Rajinikanth's 2.0 Has Already Made Over Rs 100 Crore, Months Before Release

New Delhi: Rajinikanth's new film 2.0, believed to be India's most expensive yet, is still months from release but it's already recouped a quarter of its reported budget of Rs 450 crore. The satellite rights to the film - which will release in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi - have been sold to Zee Network for Rs 110 crore, reports news agency PTI. "It's an unprecedented deal. The price of combined Indian satellite rights for the film for all the languages (Hindi, Tamil and Telugu) is Rs 110 crore. We are very happy to associate with Zee Network for the project," Raju Mahalingam, creative head of Lyca Productions, told PTI. 2.0 is scheduled to release on October 18.

2.0, directed by S Shankar, is easily one of the year's biggest films. It is a sequel to 2010 blockbuster Enthiran, which released in Hindi as Robot, and stars Rajinikanth is the double role of Chitti the Robot and Dr Vaseegaran. The Tamil actor isn't, however, the only star in the cast - Akshay Kumar plays against type as the villainous Dr Richard, a scientist transformed by an experiment gone wrong into a monstrous being with feathered eyebrows and talons. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who starred in Enthiran, does not return for the sequel. Her place is filled by Akshay's Singh Is Bliing co-star Amy Jackson. Actors Sudhanshu Pandey and Adil Hussain round out the cast.

There are two Oscar-winners attached to 2.0 - A R Rahman is providing the musical score and Resul Pookutty is in charge of sound design. The first look of 2.0 was released last year to instant viral fame.

Last week, director Shankar tweeted a status update of the film, revealing that with 'one song and some patch work,' 2.0 would be completed.
 

With my team after finishing a major scene of #2.0 . One song and some patch works are only the balance pic.twitter.com/SG6o1nLUW4

— Shankar Shanmugham (@shankarshanmugh) March 9, 2017

Rajinikanth, 66, was last seen in 2016's Kabali. His salary for the film, as stated by Forbes, was Rs 35 crore. While its unclear how much he's being paid for 2.0, it's safe to say his fee combined with Akshay Kumar's forms a substantial chunk of the Rs 450 crore that PTI reports as the film's budget. Rumour suggests that Akshay's pay cheque for 2.0 was actually heftier than Rajinikanth's.

The Diwali box office can expect fireworks. Apart from 2.0, Golmaal 4 and Ajay Devgn's Baadshaho are also scheduled for release.

(With inputs from PTI)