Sivaji Publicity and Release

The film began its maiden schedule in late December 2005[95] after announcing its cast, hoping for a Diwali 2006 release.[96] Shortly after the initial announcement of the idea of a collaboration between Shankar and Rajinikanth in July 2006, the other legendary star of Tamil cinema, Kamal Haasan immediately announced that he was also set to began his magnum opus project soon in which he played in ten different roles, Dasavatharam, directed by K. S. Ravikumar.[97] The films announced their preliminary release dates upon Diwali 2006 and a major box-office battle was expected between those and some other high profile films such as the Vikram-Trisha starrer -Bheema,[98] the Vijay-Asin starrer Pokkiri[99] as well as the Silambarasan-Nayanthara starer Vallavan.[100] A huge battle at the box-office was anticipated. However the Rajinikanth-Shankar combination has raised great expectations of the film. Because of this, nearly 15 films are ready for release but have not been for fear of being demolished. Pirappu, Satham Podaathey, Oru Ponnu Oru Paiyan, Kaanal Neer, Unnale Unnale, Ninaithu Ninaithu Paarthein , Solli Adippen, Chennai 600028 , Thoovaanam , Kannum Kannum and Koodal Nagar are films which were delayed by the expectations.[101] From early days, the film had been expected to rewrite records set by the previous Rajinikanth starrer Chandramukhi as it saw the combinations of all the biggest stars in Tamil cinema.[102] The production house AVM, owned by M. Saravanan and M. S. Guhan was the largest, oldest and most successful to date production house in Chennai.[103] Shankar, the director, had delivered eight back-to back hits and had worked with all the major technicians in the industry.[104] The music director, A. R. Rahman was the biggest figure in India's music industry and had recently claimed international honours with his work in The Lord of the Rings Musical.[105] While as, Rajinikanth was undoubtedly Tamil cinema’s most prominent figure, earning him the prestigious title of Superstar. More anticipation arose when AVM announced that after the film he would overtake Jackie Chan as Asia’s most paid actor.[106] After the announcement several infamous brands including, Coke, Hutch, Aircel and Reliance joined as brand sponsors to the project.[107]
Early rumours claimed that Rajinikanth was set to portray seven roles in Sivaji to contest Kamal Haasan's Dasavatharam.[108] Other rumours called that as Dasavatharam had planned to have ten female leads opposite Kamal Haasan that Sivaji will have more than one heroine and an early list started listing up names which included, Aishwarya Rai, Rani Mukherjee and Shriya Saran. AVM passed a rule that no technicians involved in Sivaji should be involved in Dasavatharam. This forced A. R. Rahman[109] and Shriya Saran[110] out of their respective roles in Dasavatharam. However soon, Dasavatharam was shelved temporarily to let Kamal Haasan finish off his other project, Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu and K. S. Ravikumar finish off his, Varalaru, prompting a delay of the release dates by six months to April 14, the Tamil New Year.[111] However Shankar wanted the release date to clash with Dasavatharam so he also postponed the release date to April 14, becoming he first ever AVM produced film which took longer than expected.[112] But once again, Dasavatharam delayed their release date by four months due to some unfinished schedules. Sivaji advanced their release dates by two days to April 12, so that Sivaji could get a grander opening than the rest of the April 14 releases.[113]Sivaji's chances at the box-office were set to be hampered by the ICC Cricket World Cup and its usual overshadow of Indian civilians. However thanks to the Indian cricket team early demisal from the tournament, chances were played up again. However more recently, the film had been yet again delayed to May 8[114] to furnish and clear up post-production works but it pushed back the date by nine days to May 17[115] coinciding with director Shankar's birthday, however this release date was postponed due to the lack of speed in the post-production works. The date was pushed to May 26[116] and then to recently to May 31 for release.[117] The delay continued, when A. R. Rahman, claimed he was disappointed of his background score and planned to re-do it, delaying the release further more by two weeks to June 15, 2007.[118]
The film's distribution rights, as distributed by AVM Productions to various companies are - 3.5 crores for the selling of rights to Kerala, 14 crores for Andhra Pradesh and 13.95 crores for the rights to Ayngaran, an international Tamil film distributor. Sivaji was classified as an Universal film by the Censors Association, only cutting three scenes - a double meaning dialogue by Vivek and two scenes of close up views of Shriya Saran's naval and cleavage.[119] A pre-teaser trailer was released by CNN-IBN on May 30, 2007 lasting for three minutes.[120] The official trailer was released by AVM to Galatta.com, the official online sponsor and Ayngaran International.[121]