One stood in line to be the first to get Air Asia’s Kabali offer, another tried winning a lottery on FM radio before taking a train to Chennai. Bengalureans are trying every trick in the book to be part of the Rajinikanth mania. However, many fans here say that the best place to catch the movie is the city where he was born: Bengaluru.
Dhananjaya Raju stood in line to grab the first Kabali package offered by Air Asia, travel partners for the film, at a travel agency in Jayanagar. To watch Thalaiva’s movie in Chennai is to “be like a Roman in Rome”, feels Dhananjaya, who is business head for a regional company in the city. However, he missed the irony that Rajinikanth has his roots in Bengaluru, where he worked as a conductor before becoming a movie star. “I am a hardcore fan of Rajini, and watching a Thalaiva movie in Chennai will be a blast,” he said. He paid Rs. 7,860 for the offer, which includes flights to Chennai and back from Bengaluru, a special first day first show at Satyam Theatre, and lunch.
However, not all fans plan to fly all the way to watch Kabali . “Rajini belongs to Bengaluru, so we want to catch the picture here,” said Murugan, president of Karnataka State Rajiniji Seva Samiti, who earned the sobriquet ‘Rajini’ Murugan after he was quoted in a newspaper.
The members of the samiti number 300 in the State, with around 200 in Bengaluru. “Tickets are selling at double the usual rates. Even shows at 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. are full,” he added.
Others have tried to get tickets through on-air contests. “One of my colleagues tried to win tickets on a FM radio contest. When that failed, he booked tickets to Chennai,” said Sreelakshmi Menon, test analyst at Infosys, Bengaluru.
In fact, a tarot reader even did a “reading” for the movie. “I think Kabali will do really well. The movie is ruled by a lot of amazing planets, it will get fame and recognition. However, the release date doesn’t favour Rajinikanth too much, it would have been better if it was moved a day ahead or behind,” said numerologist and tarot reader Sheelaa M. Bajaj.
