Singapore company cashes in from Kabali figurines

A Singapore start-up co-founded by five Indian-origin persons is cashing in on one of India's latest box-office hit, Kabali, by selling figurines of the film's lead character played by cine star Rajinikanth.

About 85 per cent of the 40,000 figurines produced by Carbon Copy Collectibles have been sold since sales began in mid-June for the global market, The Straits Times reported today.

The company, founded by five Singaporeans of Indian origins, was selected by Kabali's global publicity campaigner, Chennai-based production house, V Creations, to make and sell figurines of Kabaleeswaran, a character portrayed by 65-year-old Rajinikanth.

Each polyvinyl figurine, 16.5 cm tall and weighing 300g, is being sold for SGD 39.90 in Singapore.

E-commerce giant Amazon has bought the Kabali figurines for the Indian market while it is being sold in Malaysia through Madura Stores, a local retail outlet for Indian products.

"We are the pioneers of the collectibles in the Indian cinema industry," said Suraen Ramdass, 29, and one of the founders of Carbon Copy Collectibles which started in June 2015.

The idea came from the Western cinemas companies which have culture of figurine collectibles of personalities including the Ironman and Batman, according to the report.

Carbon Copy Collectibles has made and sold figurines of two other Indian film characters in Singapore, Malaysia, the United States, Britain and the United Arab Emirates.

The first was 2,000 pieces of Manik Baasha, a character from a 20-year-old movie, made in December 2015.

The second was 2,000 pieces of a character from 1992 movie Thevar Magan which were released in March this year.

"Both (the figurines) were sold out in 1-1/2 months of release," added Kumaresh Bala, 25, one of the founders.

The other founders are Dhivya Subramaniam, 27, Prakash Ramdas, 29, and Ganeshan lingam, 29.