Highlights
- Rajinkanth's Kabali released on July 22
- Fans watched the first day first show on Kabali at 5am in Chennai
- Some fans accused the Kabali producer of reserving tickets for corporates
Friday has got off to an early start down South. In Bengaluru, the special Rajinikanth-themed Air Asia flight ferried passengers to Chennai to watch what is expected to be one of the Tamil superstar's biggest blockbusters.
NDTV's Maya Sharma and cameraperson Nazir
were on board. Here are pictures of fans at Bengaluru airport checking to fly
Kabali class:
The Airbus A-320, rebranded in Kabali livery, looks like this:
A special
Kabali-themed menu was served on the flight.
Air
Kabali, which took a month to design, will continue to fly after Friday and will connect 10 cities, including New Delhi, Pune, Goa and Kochi.
Meanwhile, in Chennai, the film was screened as early as 5am, with queues snaking around theatres even earlier.
Kabali fever is everywhere you look, from the giant cutouts of Rajinikanth to the cars decorated with his face.
Some Rajinikanth fans are angry because shows have been sold out a week in advance. They accuse
Kabali producer Kalaipuli S Thanu of reserving tickets for corporates.
On Thursday, even the politically powerful were scrambling for tickets:
On Friday morning, Rajinikanth's daughter Soundarya asked a media house to stop live tweeting the film. "Let fans have their own experience," she tweeted to the publisher, later thanking them for cutting short their live review:
Meanwhile, Rajinikanth himself and his other daughter Aishwaryaa Dhanush watched the film in USA on Thursday.
Kabali, which is set in Malaysia, has also premiered in Kuala Lumpur. It opens in 1,000 screens in North India and 400 screens in USA. It is also getting a record release in Kerala. The film, made in Tamil, has been dubbed in Telugu, Hindi and Bahasa.
Directed by Pa Ranjith,
Kabali stars Rajinikanth as a mafia boss operating out of Malaysia. Radhika Apte plays his wife and the cast also includes Dhansika and Hong Kong star Winston Chao.