The entire Tamil Nadu is in a state of frenzy, that’s what the 24x7 Tamil news channels and newspapers claim. It has nothing to do with India winning a world cup or an Indian athlete walking away with a gold medal in Olympic Games. It is all because of Kabali, a Tamil potboiler movie in which the reigning superstar Rajnikant plays the lead role. The movie revolves around Rajni, who plays the role of a Messiah to Dalits/Tamils in Malaysia who are ill-treated by vested interests.
The uniqueness of the movie is that Rajnikant (66), who started his career in 1975 and has nearly 150 movies to his credit is playing for the first time the role of an aging don. His last couple of movies, including the much publicised Kochachadiyaan (2014) ended as flops for which the superstar is facing a series of litigations in various courts.
The Kabali fever, which began a month ago, reached a feverish pitch when Kalaipulli Thanu, the producer announcing on July 12 that the movie would be released on July 22. Tickets for the first week has been sold out within seconds of the opening of reservation counters. And for the first time in the history of Indian cinema, a first-day-first-show is planned in many theatres across Chennai , hold your breath, at 1am!
“We are not interested in the story or the location. The fact is that Thalaivar (as Rajnikanth is addressed by die hard fans) is acting in it. It is his styles and mannerism which are important,” said Velmurugan, a bank employee who has never missed the first-day-first-show of any of the Rajnikant movies. For puritans of movies, it may sound surprising, people like Velmurugan has not heard of movie makers like Roman Polanski or Akira Kurosawa. For them Rajnikant is a demi god and what he does is cinema.
“It is nothing but a typical Rajnikan movie. There were many violent scenes which were removed as per the directives of the review committee. It is time for Rajnikant to understand that he is past his prime and switch over to roles which are in synch with his age,” said one of the censor board members who also felt that it was time for Rajnikant to switch over to roles befitting his age..
The marketing strategy of the producer has paid rich dividents, according to film industry sources. “There are tie-ups with a private airliner, a MNC chocolate brand and the biggest blade company (as private lending institutions which charge exorbitant rate of interest are known). It has earned the film more than Rs 100 crore,” said a veteran director.