Thalaivar mania kicks in

With Kabali mania taking over film goers, it’s not just the audiences in the country that are thrilled by the film’s release. NRIs too are super kicked about the Thalaivaa’s latest offering and have thronged theatres in their respective areas to catch a glimpse of their superstar — Rajinikanth.

The film has released in almost 1,000 screens overseas with 500 screens in the US and UK.We talk to a bunch of NRIs who watched the film on the first day and get their reactions to it.

For Bengalurean Vinay Mallikarjuna, who lives in Australia, watching Kabali was an exhilarating experience. “The movie was good, it was different from other Rajinikanth films. I had pre-booked the ticket so it was easy for me, but the show was fully sold out. There was a lot of screaming and excitement in the beginning of the film,” says Vinay, who went to Village Cinemas in Geelong to watch the film.

Another Rajini buff who went to watch the film on the very first day was Varsha Nagaraj who lives in the US. “The movie was really good. Rajini was mind-blowing. The theatres in the US had NRIs screaming and howling when Thalaiva appeared on the screen,” she says.

While some have liked the much-awaited flick, others say that the film didn’t meet their expectations. Engineer Aditya S was among the few who watched the film on the first day of its release.

Aditya,who lives in San Jose says, “The film was just about average. It was really slow and unlike other Rajini films. There were a lot of excited fans who were cheering for Rajini though.”

A huge group of fans in the Bay Area got together and celebrated the film’s release. “They wore Rajini masks and some of them even danced to the Neruppu Da song,” reveals Aditya.

Bindu C is another NRI movie buff who was disappointed by Kabali. “Maybe 20 years back, people would have enjoyed the story. But had it been anyone else other than Rajini, the film would have been a disaster. However, people did enjoy the movie because of Rajini’s presence,” she says.

Irrespective of the mixed reactions to it, Kabali seems to be breaking box office records abroad and it looks like there’s no stopping Thalaiva’s Nerrupu.