Crowds throng in front of Chennai’s Kasi theatre in Chennai from 2 am on Friday. With just a few hours to go for the first day first show, joining the madness is actor Jayaram along with his actor son Kalidas. Jayaram explains that a thalaivar movie should be watched along with true blue Rajini fans accompanied with all the usual mayhem. “I am someone who tries to watch almost all the movies in a theatre -- first day first show. I am very particular about watching movies in theatre, especially when it is Rajini sir’s film. There is no point in going to any random theatre to enjoy his films, there are a few particular theatres like Kasi or Albert in ‘Madras’. It has to be watched here, with the crowd. There is a special kind of thrill that comes with watching his films this way.”
“My son and I left our house around 2 am and reached the theatre at 2.45 am. There was no place to park my vehicle, so I parked it far away and walked to the theatre. We were with the audience from then. It is an experience of a lifetime, like a festival. I don’t think we will get this for anyone else's movie,” says Jayaram, his voice choked with excitement. He goes on to admit that he could not hear a single dialogue throughout the screening. “I myself have no vice left from screaming but I will take my family along to watch it again.”
Jayaram probably encapsulates the Kabali mania that has transcended all barriers including that of language. Back home in Kerala, From Kabali painted cars to Kabali cake, Malayalis too are celebrating the emotion called ‘Thalaivar’ like never before. In Kochi, a major Rajini fan decided to do something special before the film’s release. Praveen K.K. along with his wife decided to decorate their car with the legend ‘Kabali’. Praveen’s brother Premjith, who is also a Rajini fan, says: “It’s been four days since the car got decked up to welcome Kabali. It was my brother and his wife Nitha who decided to do this on their Duster as both are hardcore Rajini fans.”
Premjith and his friends, who are members of the Stadium Film Club, will watch the film at the Sreedhar theatre at a special show at 8 am. “All the members of the club are movie buffs. So the office bearers of the club requested the theatre for a screening in the morning. They obliged and 100 of us went for the show.” Not to be left behind, some of the bakeries in the state too are hoping to make hay while the sun shines. Jaya Bakery in Thrissur has come up with Kabali cakes that are selling like, well, hot cakes! What is more, they are even planning to celebrate the Kabali fever by making available the cakes for a week.Nithin, who is the third generation businessman of this landmark bakery in the cultural capital, says,” All the staff of the bakery as well as me are huge Rajinikanth fans and Kabali is a much awaited film. So as a tribute to Rajini, we came up with the idea of edible cakes featuring the Kabali poster of Rajinikanth.”
With expectations so high, some disappointment was also in the cards. The initial response in Kochi has been getting mixed. “It can be called an emotional action movie,” says a theatre manager. “Only the first half has those typical ‘mass style’ of Rajini movies. The story flows in a different manner in the next half. Some are of the opinion that the movie should have had more Rajini style punch dialogues, while some love it the way it is. Anyway, all shows are housefull,” he says.
In Thiruvananthapuram ‘New’ theatre, the excitement knew no bounds. Manager Vimal says: “The first show at 5am saw a huge rush and nearly all shows are booked till Sunday.” At government-owned Kairali, however, it was a different picture: “The fan show at 5.45 am was full. But the 11 am and 2pm shows didn’t have the kind of response we expected from a Rajni movie. This is a ‘class’ movie. And perhaps because it is running in so many theatres in Thiruvananthapuram alone, there was not the kind of turnout we expected,” the manager says.
With inputs from Cris, Priya Sreekumar, Elizabeth Thomas and Deepthi Sreenivasan
