It wasn’t a Khan or a Kapoor that drew Calcuttans to cinemas on Friday. Kabali — starring superstar Rajinikanth — stormed into theatres, with Thalaivaa fever gripping Calcutta. From a college kid sporting a Thalaivaa tee to a trio of colleagues who took leave from office for the day just to watch the film to a Rajini fan who headed to a plex straight from the airport.
“The first two Tamil shows of Kabali at our South City property were houseful and so was the Telugu version at Rajarhat. We are expecting Kabali to do very well over the weekend,” was the word from Subhasis Ganguli, regional director (east), INOX.
The largest plex chain in town has lined up 28 shows of Kabali in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. Another 35 shows are playing around town.
Metro tracked some die-hard Rajinikanth fans as they went “Bahut khoob” after a Kabali watch.
Aishwarya Gudihal, sporting a Rajinikanth T-shirt was visibly kicked after watching Kabali at INOX (South City). “I am a big Rajini fan and had ordered this special tee online so that I could wear it today!” smiled the medical student. On Saturday, Aishwarya, who came in with mother Radhika, plans to watch Kabali with her father. “I loved Kabali… the story is really nice,” said Aishwarya whose favourite Thalaivaa films are Sivaji The Boss and Padaiyappa.
Many offices in Chennai, Bangalore and even Singapore had given their employees a holiday on Friday to watch Kabali. But no fret for Rajini fans in Calcutta who were not so lucky. (Left to right) Sijo Joseph, Jomy Mathew and Antony Thomas, all colleagues at Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences, applied for leave in advance so that they could catch the morning show at INOX (South City). “We were waiting for almost a year for Kabali and didn’t want to miss the first-day craze at any cost. We are very happy to see Rajinikanth back on screen and can’t think of missing any of his films. All of us have already booked tickets again for Saturday!” smiled Antony, who back home in Kerala, watches every Rajini release in the theatre with a group of 100 friends.
If many Rajini fans took morning flights to Chennai to watch the first day-first show there, Parthasarathy, a Rajini fan who works in Calcutta, landed from hometown Delhi and headed straight to INOX (Quest). “Rajinikanth is an icon. At 65, he romances heroines half his age and pulls it off so well. When Salman Khan gets old, I don’t think he will get roles like Rajini does now,” said the Senco Gold employee who has watched the last five Rajini films on release day.
Rajini fanboy Abhilash Nair has never missed his screen god’s films. “Superstar Rajini is great, but the story didn’t live up to expectations. But who cares… I had come only to watch him on the big screen!” smiled the Bansdroni boy after the 11am Tamil show at INOX (South City).
Soupayan Dutta, a student of The Bhawanipur Education Society College, became a fan for Rajini jokes and his trademark swag. “After watching Sivaji The Boss (2007), I made it a point to catch his next film on release day. I loved the way he flicks his cigarettes and ‘breaks’ bullets! I loved Kabali’s background score. The story was good, the twist was amazing and the climax had the Rajini touch,” said the Kalindi boy who watched the morning show at Jaya (Lake Town) with friends (left to right) Debarup Pathak, Sanmoy Mukherjee and Baidurya Mukherjee.
Reporting: Priyanka Roy and Ratnalekha Mazumdar. Pictures: Arnab Mondal
