One 2.0 many plans ahead!

The makers of Rajinikanth's 2.0, the sequel to the 2010 science fiction film Enthiran, were in town on Wednesday for a 3D Digital meet that emphasised the importance of 3D enabled screens across the state. The event saw bigwigs of the industry such as Tamil Nadu Cinema Theatre Owners Federation president Abirami Ramanathan, film distributor Tirupur Subramaniam and Lyca Production's Creative Head Raju Mahalingam.

Speaking about the meet's purpose, Raju Mahalingam said, "2.0 is shot in 3D and will be available in both 2D and 3D format. Only if theatres have the right equipment to play 3D films, will people be able to witness the magnitude of 2.0. This is why, six months ago, we planned this 3D Digital meet with all the theatre owners."

Presentations about the costs that they might incur to transform the theatre screens to 3D, and how to recover the expenses were given. Raju Mahalingam also said their goal was to "bring together the 2D and 4D digital suppliers, silver screen manufacturers and 3D glass suppliers with the theatre owners. The theatres can adapt the technology based on their requirements with a regular 2D to 3D conversion costing about five lakh rupees." He also added that in order to reduce piracy, the theatre-going experience should be improved, and renovating theatres with 3D screens would aid in this regard.

About 2.0, he said, "The VFX works are happening currently at Los Angeles. The film will release in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi, and plans are on to release it in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Spanish as well. In India, it'll release in close to 10,000 screens. Talks are on for other countries. The audio will be released by the end of October." He also added that the hot air balloon, promoting the film, which hovered over the Hollywood sign last week, will be sent to balloon festivals across the globe and will reach India about three months before the film's release. Once here, the balloon will travel across the length of the country and might also carry the film's cast and crew.