Given the fact that Shankar is the most-sought after director in South India and perhaps the most-paid filmmaker in India, audience' expectations on his next movie I, that is due for release on Jan 14, are top notch. Even the distributors took so much risk on the film and bet big on the big-budget flick. However, they realised to the "risk factor" very late.

After Rajini's Lingaa failed to meet expectations and pushed distributors into financial woes, now few distributors of I too worrying high. Since Shankar's previous film Snehitudu (Nanban in Tamil), the remake of 3 Idiots, was a failure and the director was not in great form, the distributors of I are going through anxious moments and keeping their fingers crossed.

This seems to be one of the main reasons why leading financiers PVP put pressure on Aascar Ravichandran before the film's release and sought for settlement in advance. "Of late, several mega budget flicks with high expectations failed to deliver. That fear of failure might be there undercurrent, but Shankar is the game-changer. His name alone sells the film," shared a distributor from Chennai. So, wait till tomorrow to know the fate of I and Shankar.