It’s early morning at Vettri Theatres, and even as the residences of Chromepet is waking up to just another Thursday, the scene outside the cinema hall is very different.
Someone’s dancing. Someone’s playing the drums. Someone else is arranging for rose petals flowers to be thrown. There’s a mini pal abhisekam happening somewhere. There are dozens of Rajinikanth-themed posters decorating the walls, more than making up for the absence of huge cut-outs that were a regular feature in the past.
A Rajinikanth poster gets a ‘paal abhishekam’ at Rohini Theatre inn Koyambedu
Meanwhile, dance numbers Chumma Kizhhi and Marana Mass are blasting from the speakers. Make no mistake, Darbar is here, and Rajinikanth has arrived: as a bad cop, no less.
The buzz surrounding the actor’s films might have come down considerably over the last few years or so, but that isn’t stopping his hardcore fans from thronging the cinema halls during release. Lile Suresh T, a 35-year-old who arrived sporting a black T-shirt that had the lettering ‘Vanthu Ninna Darbar’ on it. “There’s no way I’m missing a Rajini film first day first show,” he says, admiring a poster of the star wielding a sword, “We fans aren’t here for the storyline or the screenplay. We are here to celebrate the aura behind Superstar.”
It’s the love of fans like him that has made Rajinikanth FDFS’ successful, despite the entry of stars like Vijay and Ajith, whose films are also celebrated with a lot of vigour and passion. “Can anyone be more stylish than him?” gushes M Ezhil, getting out of Parangimalai’s Jothi theatre with a ‘thumbs up’ sign, “The man is almost 70, but he’s still giving his all for dance and fight sequences. We will continue supporting his films, irrespective of what kind of roles he takes up.”
Rajinikanth fans celebrating an early Pongal at Woodlands Cinemas
It’s his screen charm that seems to have worked for Rajinikanth till date. Chartered accountant V Sreevathson, also an actor-writer in Tamil theatre troupe Dummies Drama, will vouch for it. He is a regular FDFS-goer, having taken part in such celebrations for the last three decades, in various theatres in the city including Albert, Udhayam and Vettri. “There’s some energy that passes on from the man on screen to me, the viewer. It makes my mornings meaningful,” he says. Thursday morning at Darbar probably did that for many more fans like him.
