Kaala hits screens amid revelry

Thalaivar returns: Frenzied fans celebrate Rajini movie in usual style

Celebrations that went on throughout Wednesday night reached a crescendo as the clock neared 4 am on Thursday. And as the bell — signalling them to get ready for the moment they have been waiting for — went off, frenzied fans took out hundreds of milk sachets and began pouring them on giant cutouts of their Thalaivar.

Crowds scrambled to perform palabhishekham on their beloved superstar. The frenzy that is typically associated with the first day first show of a Rajinikanth movie was back in Chennai after two years. And Kaala was more special for diehard fans as this is the first appearance of the actor on screen after he announced his grand entry into politics.

Kaala – set in the slums of Dharavi in Mumbai — opened on more than a dozen screens at 4 am on Thursday. The film was screened at nearly 2,000 theatres across the globe, including 600 in Tamil Nadu.

As the star made a grand entry on the screen – the moment his fans were waiting for – fingers turned into whistles, and confetti and chocolates adorned large halls. Some were seen performing arti with coconut and camphor to ward off evils.

Revelry at the Rohini Silver Screens in Koyambedu, Vetri Theatre in Chromepet and other single screens on the outskirts of Chennai were on a different level as hundreds spent all night waiting, after word spread from abroad that it was truly a Rajinikanth movie.

As expected, Kaala, according to reviews, is more of Pa Ranjith film than Rajinikanth's, but the frenzied Rajinism that was missing in Kabali has made a dramatic comeback. The political film dwells on the land rights of common man and the need for struggle to retrieve them.

The film is expected to have collected Rs 30 crore in terms of ticket sales alone on the first day.

Since Kaala is Rajinikanth’s first film after his grand political announcement last December, expectations were high with fans keeping their fingers crossed to know whether their star would give any indications of his political agenda. Though the usual hype associated with a Rajini movie was missing in the run-up to its release, Kaala is expected to do well at the box office, if initial reviews are any indication.