Movies have always been a staple diet for the Indian audience. Be it in India or outside, most Indian movies have been spectacular in its theme, backdrops, music, dance numbers, fashion, one-liners, and comedy tracks. Beginning from the Muhurat to the huge cutouts that loom large over skyscrapers in India, the color and the vibrant quality of films have appealed to all generations. Film publicity has opened a new world for marketing companies across the globe. With thousands of dollars ringing, the fear factor owing to competition in the film world has unearthed a huge potential to innovative outdoor film publicity.

Novi Town Center 8 located in Novi is not far away from this competition. For the first time, Michigan has witnessed the screening of over 10 movies in the month of April. Most of them are big banners. Small to big grocery stores have huge posters screaming Lucky, Mughal-E-Azam, Mumbai Xpress, Chandramukhi, Bunny and on…Though the local regional Indian film distributors have capitalized on this big boom of Detroit being an A center in terms of movies- the hit or a miss theory rests largely on the audience.

However, the clash of two stars has sidelined all community events. The good old days of Kamal - Rajini rivalry seems to be back in the Tamil film industry with the release of their new films coinciding on the same day. The eagerly awaited competition is the fight between the stylish "Superstar" Rajini's comic thriller Chandramukhi to the artistically talented "Kadhal Mannan" Kamal's action comedy Mumbai Xpress. (Kadhal Mannan meaning "Emperor of Love"). The Chennai Film Industry sources opine that this is a direct fight between the two stars after a period of 13 years. Both these movies have been rated as family entertainers and is releasing on April 14th also supposed to be the Tamil New Year's Day.

The local film distributors in Michigan have left no stone unturned as they have unscrupulously planned the timings, ticket prices, dates and publicity. With lots of dollars involved, Michigan is anticipating a heavy turnout at Novi Town Center 8 this weekend.

Ravi Velu, the film distributor for Chandramukhi has set his hopes real high. "The purpose behind showing the movie was chiefly because of the anticipation for Rajini's movies since his last movie Baba was a flop. Another main reason was the producer-director-actor combination. The trio has given huge hits earlier, which were commercial potboilers". According to Ravi, CM will basically show Rajini from a different perspective while his past films had political overtones. The Cleveland based distributor is confident of having houseful shows and predicts that "the audience will prefer Rajini's CM to Kamal's ME".

To go one step further, the Mumbai Xpress team has erected a 8 feet huge cutout - an innovatively crafted collage at the theater lobby. For the first time in Michigan film circles, such an extravagant artwork has been displayed. Mumbai Xpress is also the first digitally formatted film in the history of Tamil Cinema.

Krish Enterprises spokesperson (Distributor of Ganesh Brand) who is also the local film distributor of Mumbai Xpress objectively states that this is a healthy competition and the reason behind showing Kamal Hassan's histrionics on the same week "is basically to bring the regional film culture to Michigan. People from Tamil Nadu feel strongly for this culture and be it Rajini or Kamal, both these actors have created a mass hysteria". He further elaborates "this clash of style and talent has been part of the Tamil Film Industry since Aboorva Ragangal (1975) where both the actors were pitted against each other. And this healthy competition has survived for almost three decades and has also kept the Tamil Film Industry thriving till date".

The 8ft. Mumbai Xpress collage stationed at Novi Town Center 8. The local distributor has used this technique for the first time in United States.

According to a miindia representative, this is " for the first time we are promoting nine movies this week 2 Hindi, 2 Telugu, 2 Tamil and 1 English movie. There has been a flurry of emails with updates and requests for added exposure on miindia.com. We feel the anxiety and enthusiasm of the local distributors on a daily basis. Spring has sprung in the Michigan Indian community, with over 40 events scheduled in the next 30 days"

Have the regional Indian film distributors in Michigan found a fresh lease of life? Will Michigan prove to be a successful market for regional cinema? Let us wait and watch as the drama unfolds!