Chennai:Rajinikant-starrer ‘Kabali’ today released across the country with frenzied fans swarming the theatres to have an early morning glimpse of their ‘Thalaivar’ (leader).

The film released in about 5,000 screens across India including 1000 in the state, with some of them having early morning shows of the Pa Ranjith-directed movie.

Cut outs and banners of the actor were erected outside popular theatres, as the film had created much buzz among the actor’s diehard fans and cinema goers since his previous venture Lingaa had failed at the box office.

In some places, fans complained of lack of availability of tickets as they were bulk-booked by individuals and companies well in advance but there was an overall mood of joy outside the theatres that screened the multi-crore film produced by ‘Kalaippuli’s Thanu.

The film had already been released in some foreign countries including the US where Rajnikant reportedly watched his latest offering to his fans.

The ‘Neruppuda’ song has already become a chartbuster.

Santosh Narayanan has scored the music for the film, which also stars Radhika Apte, Dhanshika and Kalaiarasan in key roles.

Meanwhile, fans who had flown from Bengaluru to watch a special screening as part of an arrangement with Air Asia, complained of a rescheduling of timing and screening place.

They insisted that they wanted to watch the movie along with the actor’s fans in a Chennai theatre as promised but were offered a screening elsewhere.

The company said there was a ‘mistake’ on its part in not informing the rescheduling and assured to ‘compensate’ the fans.

The film had cleared a last minute hurdle yesterday after the Madras High Court declined to restrain its release on a petition by a film distribution firm seeking compensation for losses reportedly incurred by them over distribution of “Lingaa”.

The film was released to packed houses amid fanfare and frenzy across Kerala, where tickets were sold in advance and many of theatres showed ‘houseful’ boards.

Elated fans, who came out of the theatres after watching the movie, said the film has the real “Rajini touch” with stunt, music and typical punch dialogues.

It was released in over 300 screens across the Kerala, where there are a large number of Rajinikant fans.

While in Palakkad, bordering Tamil Nadu, in at least 25 theatres the film has been released, in the state capital, eight theatres are screening it with the first show starting at 4.30 am.

Cutting across age barriers, movie buffs queued up in front of cinemas in the wee hours to buy tickets.

More number of shows, in different times, were arranged to manage the heavy rush of fans, theatre sources said.

Rakesh Ramakrishnan, a Kochi-based software engineer who managed ticket for the first show, said ‘Kabali’ rose to the expectations of Rajini fans.

“The movie has all ingredients to satisfy Rajini fans like stunt, punch dialogues, super songs etc. There is enough masala for everyone to celebrate,” he told PTI.

“We were a bit disappointed about Rajini’s last outings like ‘Lingaa’ and ‘Kochadaiyaan’. But, ‘Kabali’ washed away all those disappointments,” the 23-year-old techi, who took special permission from the office to adjust his work schedule to watch the movie, said.

Television channels showed hard-core Rajini fans, including aged men and women, standing in queues to fetch the tickets in many theatres.

Fans of the ‘Thalaivar’ celebrated the release of ‘Kabali’ in different ways including in social media.

A three-minute music video, brought out by a fan in Kochi, has become viral on the online.

Kiran Bedi distributes tickets to villagers for ‘Kabali’

Puducherry:Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi today distributed free tickets of Rajinikanth-starrer “Kabali” to villagers of Sellipet for constructing toilets in their homes as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

Bedi distributed the free tickets to 147 villagers at Raj Nivas. Residents of the village constructed toilets making use of the scheme by District Rural Development Agency, Raj Nivas sources said.

Officials of the Revenue Department led by the District Collector Satyendra Singh Gursawat also distributed free tickets for the movie at some of the theatres for Sellipet villagers.

Review: Kabali is all empty sound and fury

Director: Pa. Ranjith

Cast: Rajinikanth, Radhika Apte, Winston Chao, Dhansika, John Vijay

By Saibal Chatterjee

Every Rajinikanth starrer has its own enormous orbit and Kabali is no different. It has arrived in theatres around the country and the world accompanied by unprecedented hype.

Does it live up to the expectations?

While that question would be absolutely redundant for Rajini’s fandom, a film cannot but be dispassionately assessed for its intrinsic cinematic qualities.

Kabali is at best a patchy potboiler that rides on the shoulders of the megastar who can do no wrong but spirals out of control owing to an overdose of vapid violence.

Rajini plays his own age in Kabali although there are passages in the film that trace his rise and his relationship with his would-be wife and show a younger, sprightlier avatar of the actor.

When the film opens, Kabaleeshwaran (Rajinikanth), a dreaded Kuala Lumpur mafia don, has already served a 25-year jail term. He walks out of prison and receives a hero’s welcome.

In the long years of his absence, the rival gang has taken control of the city’s underworld. So Kabali, with the aid of his trusted lieutenants some new, some freshly acquired has to get down to reclaiming his lost turf.

But he is obviously no ordinary criminal. He runs a charitable foundation aimed at rescuing wayward youngsters from the streets and giving them a new lease of life.

As Kabali goes about his mission to clean up the Kuala Lumpur underworld dominated by sex traffickers and drug peddlers, the audience receives little capsules of information about his ascent to power and the about the major personal setbacks that he has suffered along the line.

These include the violent death of his wife Rupa (Radhika Apte), a spirited plantation worker who helps Kabali in his struggle to secure greater dignity and higher wages for Indian migrants working in the fields like slaves.

After a rather predictable first half overshadowed by gory gang wars, the second half is livened up just a tad by emotionally charged moments, including one that hinges on the protagonist discovering that he has a daughter (Dhansika).

But it isn’t emotional traction that Kabali is looking for. Director Pa Ranjith adopts a larger-than-life approach to the issue of workers’ rights and racial tensions.

So eventually Kabali degenerates into a clash between the protagonist’s gang and a brutal Chinese crime lord named Tony Lee (Taiwanese actor Winston Chao).

Needless to say, the body count is extremely high and a lot of blood is shed, but Rajini, as always, has the last laugh.

It is unlikely that Kabali will send everybody into raptures the film has far too much flab to make an even impact. But rest assured that Rajinikanth fans and they are legion will have no reason to go home unduly disappointed with all the sound and fury that the film whips up.

Fans in Malaysia brave rain to watch Rajinikanth’s ‘Kabali’

Kuala Lumpur:Hundreds of Tamil fans in Malaysia braved the rain and traffic jam to be in the theatres to watch the premiere of superstar Rajinikanth’s latest movie “Kabali,” which is set in the city.

Fans reached the cinema halls as early as 6pm for the premiere, scheduled to start at 10pm last night.

The special screening was also attended by the president of Malaysia’s largest ethnic Indian based political party MIC president S Subramaniam, his deputy SK Devamany, Deputy youth and sports minister M Saravanan, actors Jalaluddin Hasan, Norman Hakim and Dhansika, who star in the movie as well.

In “Kabali,” Rajinikanth plays the role of a don based in Malaysia known as Kabaliswaran.

The movie first became the talking point in the country, when prominent local actors like Rosyam Nor, Norman Hakim, Zack Taipan, Tony Kassim and popular Taiwan actor Winston Chao were offered roles.

Subramaniam lauded the makers for shooting the film in the country and adding to the economic growth.

He noted that about 1,000 Malaysians took part in the making of the movie and that the money spent on it had contributed to the local economy, local news agency Bernama said.

PTI