Sun TV is back to business with a bang. After maintaining low-profile until the death of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, the company is now capturing the satellite market again. After Viswasam, it has now acquired the TV rights of Vijay's upcoming movie, presently referred to as Thalapathy 63.
The producer and the channel stuck the deal in March-April. The earlier rumours had claimed that Sun TV shelled out Rs 52 crore for the satellite rights of all the versions. However, our sources say that it procured the satellite rights of Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada versions for about Rs 30 crore. The Hindi satellite rights and theatrical rights are still with the producer.
Vijay's previous movie Sarkar was funded by Sun TV's sister concern Sun Pictures and the question of selling satellite rights did not arise. And Zee Tamil had bagged the satellite rights of the actor's earlier blockbuster film Mersal for Rs 28.5 crore (excluding Hindi language rights).
Politics and cinema go hand in hand in Tamil Nadu and people in the power handle control over the film industry.
Coming to Sun TV, it remained the market leader till late J Jayalalithaa came to the power with a thumping victory in 2016. It did not buy satellite rights of any biggie for over five years. Yet the channel occupied the leading channel among the Tamil audience.
Meanwhile, the shooting of Thalapathy 63 is progressing on the outskirts of Chennai. Vijay is busy filming the important portion of the flick along with 100s of supporting artists.
The Atlee Kumar-directorial movie, which has Nayanthara in the female lead, is produced by AGS Entertainment.
