Jallikattu agitation: Suriya’s eagerly awaited Singham 3 release postponed for the third time

Suriya’s eagerly awaited Singham 3 which was to release for the big Republic Day weekend on 26 January, has once again been pushed, third time in a row This time the release has been postponed due to prevailing situation in Tamil Nadu following the Jallikattu agitation.

Till Sunday (22 January) Singham 3 was on schedule for a 26 January release, with Suriya completing his Kerala promotional tour. However the situation in Chennai and other key towns in Tamil Nadu heated up following the Marina beach protest. And Suriya had to cut short his Tamil Nadu leg of the promotional campaign and rush back to Chennai. The star was one of the first to visit the agitating students on the Marina beach and also took part in the actor’s association Nadigar Sangam protest meet.

However, following the ongoing Jallikattu agitation, Studio Green the producers of the film, decided to hold back the release of Singham 3.

A spokesperson of the distribution team said: “Tamil people living in Tamil Nadu and rest of the world are saddened and their sentiments are deeply hurt. There is an unrest situation in the state and its completely beyond our control. Releasing Singham 3 under such a distress situation will have a negative impact on the film collections and also on the reputation of the stakeholders (read Suriya). It will be very difficult to monetise and recoup the funds invested in the film under the current circumstances.”

The new release date of Singham 3 will be announced by the producers in the coming days. Most likely the film will release in February first week, as they cannot delay the release any longer. The franchise action film is very important for Suriya, who needs a hit. His last release 24 was critically acclaimed but did not do as well as expected at the box-office.

Meanwhile theatres in Tamil Nadu are rolling out the red carpet for Bollywood biggies – Shah Rukh Khan’s Raees and Hrithik Roshan’s Kaabil.

The screens which were planning to screen Singham 3, are now after the distributors of the Hindi films. Both the films have huge buzz around them, and Hindi films are currently hot in Tamil Nadu following the huge success of Aamir Khan’s Dangal and its dubbed version in Tamil.

Out of the two, Shah Rukh Khan is the bigger star in Tamil Nadu, and Raees is sure to take a good opening especially in Chennai City and its suburbs in Chengalpet and Coimbatore. His Chennai Express was a sensational hit in Tamil Nadu and currently Raees leads the advance booking race in Tamil Nadu.

However Raees is not dubbed in Tamil and is likely to get only multiplex screens in the state.

The huge advantage Hrithik Roshan’s Kaabil has over Raees in Tamil Nadu is that it has also a dubbed version in Tamil called Balam. This means the movie will play in more number of screens than Raees. Mukesh R Mehta of E4 Entertainment, who is distributing Kaabil and its Tamil version Balam in Tamil Nadu, explains: “Hrithik Roshan already has a huge fan base in Tamil Nadu.

“Films like Krrish, Dhoom 2, Krrish 3, Jodhaa Akbar, Bang Bang were dubbed in Tamil and were successful. Kaabil is a romantic action entertainer, which I’m sure, will work. The film is releasing in Hindi and Tamil in 160 screens, with the dubbed version giving us a reach in places where Hindi is not screened.”

So with Singham 3 Tamil and Telugu missing out on a release on the huge Republic Day weekend, the Bollywood films are going to make merry.