This Diwali, there is double dhamaka as Golmaal Again starring Ajay Devgn, Arshad Warsi, Kunal Khemu, Tusshar Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra and Tabu and Secret Superstar starring Zaira Wasim and Aamir Khan hit theatres! While one is going to be a laughter riot, the other will be an inspiring tale. It’s a combination of interesting genres. We can’t wait to find who will triumph at the box office but, what if we told you there’s another film in the running as well? Yes, there’s a third film that boasts of an equal buzz if not bigger. In fact, it has rightfully claimed the throne of the biggest release this festive season. The movie has spread like a rage on social media much before its release. With less than a day to go, the movie is quite the topic of discussion. If this Diwali is cracker lacking, it’s because of THIS film! We are talking about south film, Mersal starring Thalapathy Vijay, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kajal Aggarwal and Nithya Menen.

Mersal is easily one of the most anticipated releases. Ever since it was announced the film would release this Diwali, the disappointment over 2.0’s postponed release date didn’t last. Right from its first look to its audio launch to the much awaited teaser to the recently released promos, the film has garnered huge hype on social media. It’s no exaggeration when we call it the Mersal storm! In a conversation Akshaye Rathi, exhibitor and distributor, he reaffirms the same that Mersal is bigger than Golmaal Again and Secret Superstar -” If you look at the way these big ticket films function in Tamil Nadu, there was a film called Vivegam that despite negative reviews and a not-so-great word of mouth and a release on a non festive day, raked in Rs 160 crore at the India NBOC. Now here’s a film with Vijay on Diwali, hugely anticipated coming solo in Tamil Nadu, Imagine the possibilities. Also, the sheer anticipation built around the teaser is huge. I won’t be surprised if the highest grossing film this Diwali, (if you look at the PAN India picture) will be Mersal.” He also confirms the massive screen count of 3292 stating this – Thalapathy Vijay is like a mini Rajinikanth. He is huge in terms of his fan following. I truly expect a phenomenal opening and a phenomenal life time.”

He also is confident that the roadblock the movie faced few days before its release won’t affect Mersal’s performance. Clarifying on the same, he says “I don’t think so. Because, if you look at the cases of a lot of Tamil films, filsm featuring superstars like Rajinikanth, they have been films where the producers the pulled the plug on a film’s release two days before the main release! Tamil Nadu is a huge market for these uncertainties. I am sure Mersal will release on Diwali and ensure fireworks at the Box office.”

Also, if you didn’t know, Vijay’s Mersal is made on a budget of Rs 130 crore making it more expensive than Golmaal Again and Secret Superstar – ” If you looked at the landed cost of Golmaal Again and Secret superstar, it’s truly a more expensive film. Golmaal Again landed cost is around Rs 75 – 80 crore. As for Secret Secret Superstar, the landed cost might not be more than Rs 50 crore, thus making the Aamir Khan starrer the best movie of this week in terms of Return on Investments” Akshaye Rathi further elaborates.

However, Akshaye Rathi goes on to defend the budget cost of Mersal – “If you have seen the teaser the makers have put out, every penny they have spent reflects on the screen. So it’s not an justified cost because the money is being spent on all the right elements. You can see it on the silver screen. It’s unlike most Hindi films starring a superstar because here ( Bollywood) the biggest overhead is the star’s fee, while in south, you see the money being spent on the production value. You have seen a Baahubali, a Robot and then there’s 2.0 coming up. There is a genuine money being spent on the making of the money rather than the star. That is what makes a movie bigger than star and that’s the need of the hour today.”

Source : bollywoodlife.com