Vettai Preview - SWOT Analysis

(Will Nanban eclipse Vettai?)

Vettai had everything going for it. UTV was supremely confident to the point where they decided to clash with Vijay and Shankar's Nanban even though there is no other big movie releasing in the near horizon. Not sure whether it is over-confidence about their own product or under-estimation of Nanban. Whatever be it, UTV must be 'seriously' concerned now because of the positive word of mouth may engulf Vettai. Okay, okay... Let us not get too carried away by emotions and look at Vettai's prospects objectively,

Strength

• Chemistry between Madhavan and Arya is rocking. With Tamil audience starved of genuine multi-starrers, seeing two likable heroes on the screen is eagerly awaited. It is also rare to see to two heroines enacting as sisters on the screen.
• Lingusamy is one of the few Directors who know how to picturize songs in "janaranjaga" manner. He has proved it in Payya recently.
• Nirav Shah's camera work looks so clean and fresh. In the past, he has always moved the story forward with his great visual sense (e.g., Deivathirumagal, Madarasapattinam, Dhoom-2, etc.)
• Shutter scene- Combination of Lingusamy and  Madhavan will be long remembered for the Shutter scene in 'Run'. They have tried it again in Vettai. The reception for that scene could turn out to be a 'Mass'.

Weakness

• Lingusamy's movies are guaranteed to have great songs. Unfortunately in Vettai, despite best efforts from Yuvan's on music front, the songs have been largely unnoticed by public. Nanban and 3 songs have totally dominated over Vettai music.
• Vettai deserved much bigger hype than what it has, given all the partnership spending of UTV with almost all the leading News publications (expect overflow of superlative reviews from media houses after release)

Opportunity

• Domestic Distribution rights were sold for a healthy amount of 20 Crores to 25 Crores. This reduces the time required to break-even and reducing the burden on Producers and Distributors.

Threat

• With Nanban's word of mouth being extremely positive, family and neutral audience have already prioritized Nanban over Vettai.  
• It appears as if Vettai's decision to go on head-on collision against Nanban is done just for the sake of clashing (especially with no major releases until Billa-2 on April 14). So far, this appears to be an extremely risky release strategy. Vettai has already lived in the shadow of Nanban during the last 15 days. 

Surprising to see a corporate company like UTV with so many MBAs did not quantify the risk-to-reward ratio. Vettai has absolutely no room for error. For Vettai to  become a Hit, it needs to be nothing short of spectacular.