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| BABA’s Magnanimous Gesture |
 Living up to his demi-God status superstar Rajnikant compensated the loss suffered by his distributors and theatre owners who released his 'Baba', by returning part of the amount he had received from them. And true to style, the superstar didn’t come for the press meet, and it was left to the distributors to sing
praises about his magnanimous act. It was quite a long line of distributors who came to the mike to inform the media about how Rajni had returned the money. Rajni’s gesture comes in the wake of media reports about some distributors complaining about the loss they suffered. When the superstar returned from his trip to the U.S., and learnt about this, he promptly summoned close associate Nagaraja Raja, a
distributor himself, and requested him to ready the accounts so that the money could be repaid to the distributors.
 Says Thiruppur Subramaniam, a distributor, at the ‘Thanksgiving’ ceremony: "When the Trichi theatre faced a loss due to the disruption of the film’s running, we requested him to settle our dues. This is the first time that an actor has paid back the losses incurred by the distributors and exhibitors, in the history of cinema, both at the national and state level. Actors like M.G.R. and Raj Kapoor compensated their losses by making another movie. But no one gave back the amount. That too so soon after the film’s release!”
Said Suresh, of Ananda Films, “Rajni had given us total freedom and a blank cheque to do all publicity for the film, before he went abroad. When he returned, he suddenly called us and said he’ll compensate us (116 theaters). We told him to take his time, but he was determined to finish it immediately. He persisted with his calls and is probably the only producer in the world to compensate us this way.” Another distributor called it a diwali bonus.
 Remembers G.V. exhibitor/producer, “When Rajni finished ‘Padayappa’, I negotiated with the overseas distributors. But Rajni discouraged me saying in case it turns out to be a loss, no one should suffer. So we’ll distribute it locally. The publicity that ‘Baba’ received from the media is a record in the history of cinema. This film did get its profits within the first week, but it was less than expected. We’re grateful to him for returning the money.”
Yet another distributor hoped that other actors too would follow suit. One said that he couldn’t believe it when told that Rajni was returning the money. ‘I couldn’t believe it, was it a dream or reality?’
 A theatre owner said, “After ‘Alavanthan’ my family was in doldrums. ‘Gemini’ boosted up our fortunes to an extent. After a few days of Baba, I thought we would have to starve again. Now thanks to Rajni, we are ok. Nagaraja Raja, Rajini’s friend, and the Madurai distributor says, “Rajni had decided in the beginning that the earnings from Baba would go to the Raghavendra Trust. And if there is a loss, he would return the money.”
Most of the distributors admitted that Baba was not a total flop. But that the money they had shelled out was higher than the collections. The losses run to several crores, but the distributors refused to specify the amount.
Finally, everytime there has been a crises, the superstar has always managed to bounce back with a vengeance. This time too he has emerged as the saviour of the distributors, and they can’t stop singing praises of him.
Malini Mannath
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