2018 Dec 17
Sri Lankan entrepreneur Allirajah Subaskaran, aged 46, has produced India’s most expensive movie of all time after 3 years in the making. A prosperous businessman in more than one field, he runs Lyca Group, a diversified conglomerate offering high-quality services in sectors such as Telecommunications, Entertainment, Travel, Healthcare, Media, and much more! With a reach of over 15 million consumers across 23 countries, his goal is to connect communities from across the world, no matter how far they venture from home.
How did his story begin?
An immigrant who fled Lanka during its civil conflict, touched base in France and eventually settled down in the UK, Subaskaran’s early business influence stems from experience working at his family restaurant and later, their corner shop. His family went into the line of distributing and producing calling cards, which he soon realized was an important item that allowed immigrants to stay in touch with family members back home.
In 1999, Subaskaran used his propensity for success to make his dreams of founding an internationally renowned brand a reality. Thus, Lycatel was founded and later, Lycamobile in 2006, leading to the expansion of a flourishing business that includes a portfolio of news, radio stations, restaurants, health centers, TV packages, flight packages – the list goes on. A recent presentation shows that the Group’s revenues were more $2.2 billion as of 2016.
Having a deep fondness for Tamil cinema since his childhood days, he veered into the field of film production and founded a production and distribution Company based in Chennai (2014). Following the success of the company’s first film, Kaththi, Subaskaran initiated a more ambitious project in 2015. Produced on a rough budget of ₹543 crore, 2.0 is reaping profit after profit at the box office, having earned ₹117.34 crore worldwide on its first day (which was the second highest ever for an Indian film) and has already marked its place amongst IMDb’s Highest Grossing Indian Films.
2.0 (one of 2018’s only three films to be shot in 3-D) is a science-fiction/action film that acts as a standalone-sequel to Robot (2010) starring Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar with the soundtrack composed by the highly acclaimed A. R. Rahman. The plot revolves around the conflict surrounding a humanoid robot and a scientist against a backdrop of political corruption and climate change. Incidentally, Arnold Schwarzenegger was considered for a role in the movie but his place eventually went to Bollywood star Akshay Kumar instead.
2.0 has been grabbing headlines ever since its inception and has kept the audience on their toes with bated breath. Since its release, critical reviews have been mostly positive, given the film’s impressive use of visual effects, the leads’ outstanding performances and the message 2.0 sends across to its audience. Already breaking multiple records, Subaskaran’s production of the film can be deemed a massive success.
This is yet another inspiring example of Sri Lankans reaching great heights across the world. Allirajah Subaskaran’s venture into the industry of production and distribution is only the latest in a line of successes and we can only keep our eyes peeled for whatever may come next.
