Rajini’s Petta bought for Rs 20 crore?

Demand for superstar Rajinikanth’s dubbed movies hasn’t subsided in T-town with distributors willing to pay big sums.  Although his latest release ‘2.0’ turning out to be just an average grosser in two Telugu states, producer and distributor Ashok Vallabhaneni didn’t mind  coughing up Rs 20 crore for the Telugu dubbing rights of Rajini’s next release ‘Petta’. 

“It is a fancy price because it is without Telugu satellite and digital rights. Further, the Telugu distributor has to recover his investment with the collections in two Telugu states,” says a source from Chennai who claims that Sun Pictures would also be getting a share in collections in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh as well. “Rajnikanth has to take on Telugu stars like Balakrishna, Ram Charan this Sankranthi festival,” adds the source. Meanwhile, Ashok Vallabhaneni has released press statement stating that he is `happy’ to release the Telugu version of superstar’s action adventure. 

“Rajinikanth’s roaring performance will be the USP of our film,” he said. Financier-turned-producer Ashok has become a specialist in buying dubbed movies these days. He made big money with Vijay’s ‘Sarkar’, but was unlucky with Maniratnam’s ‘Nawab’. Tamil star all set to take on big Telugu stars at ticket windows in January.