By Umaima Shafiq

 

Tamil superstar Rajinikanth’s latest film Lingaa that opened to a global premiere on December 12 reported box office losses in several suburban districts like Chengalpattu, Tiruchi and Madurai.

Film distributors and theatre owners from these areas are demanding their money back, claiming that they had paid several crores amounting to 70% of the film’s production cost to acquire screening rights.

“Only 250-300 seats were occupied in some theatres and some had trouble selling tickets even 12 hours after the film’s release,” some distributors said.

Film production major Eros International was also accused of buying the film for Rs100 crores and selling it at double the amount to smaller distributors.

Meanwhile Eros International which settled similar claims for Rajini’s earlier films like Baba, Kuselan and Kochadaiiyan has refused to repay Lingaa’s distributors.

However the film’s promos, advertisements and branded products like games, toys and other items have seen good sales.

 

Schoolboy held for alleged rape, murder of girl

 

A Class X boy was arrested for allegedly raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl from his school at Vellore district about 150km from Chennai last week.

The girl’s body was found with her limbs tied up in a mango grove in Machanur village. The boy reportedly strangled her, coolly returned to the school and helped his father at their eatery that evening.

However he left home the next day, when the girl’s body was found and her family and the entire village staged a mass protest. He was found at Mahadevamalai about a kilometre from his village and remanded in a juvenile home.

Police said he came from a broken family and was influenced by porn websites. Chief Minister O Paneerselvam announced Rs300,000 to the girl’s family.


Woman accuses judge’s family of dowry harassment

 

Anootha Chandran, the daughter-in-law of senior High Court judge Dhanapalan, has accused her husband’s family of dowry harassment and physical abuse.

Anootha, a native of Kerala, married justice Dhanapalan’s son, D Bala Rajendra Prabhu, in February 2013. She claimed that the torture started immediately with Dhanapalan asking Anootha’s father to bear all wedding expenses. She also accused Bala Rajendra Prabhu of having extra-marital affairs aided by his mother. He reportedly beat her even after she became pregnant.

Anootha also blamed the local Chennai police of not taking action. The case has been deferred to December 22 for investigation.

 

Temple, museum websites hacked

 

The websites of the heritage Saraswathi Mahal library in Thanjavur and Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple in Madurai were hacked simultaneously last week. Cyber crime police said the Saraswathi Mahal library site was corrupted by malware of Pakistani militants, while the Meenakshi temple site maintained by a US-based software company, was hacked ‘normally’.

Both sites were corrected within a day. Cyber police have registered cases under the Information Technology Act.

The Saraswathi Mahal library was established 500 years ago by the Nayak kings of Thanjavur. It has around 50,000 palm leaf manuscripts and 65,000 ancient texts, many of which are translated by epigraphists and regularly published.

The Meenakshi temple is 2,500 years’ old and receives about 50,000 visitors every day.