Rajnikanth: The ultimate superstar

The craze for Salman Khan has reached insane levels in the Hindi Film Industry, but even that pales in comparison to the kind of insanity and sheer craze that only a Rajnikanth film can generate.

Check out these examples:

AirAsia, a budget airline, has arranged special ‘Kabali’ flights from Bangalore to Chennai. It will carry about 180 fans of the superstar to watch the film on the day of its release. The menu on-board includes some of Rajnikanth’s favourite food items.

A woman, who claims to be the biggest Rajni fan in the world, has designed sarees with Rajnikanth’s face on it. She’ll be wearing the saree while watching the film on Friday morning.

Luxury Hotels in Bangalore and Chennai have organised special screenings of the film at their property. Tickets are said to be priced between 1000 – 2000 rupees.

Another crazy fan of the superstar has booked the first 10 shows of the film – starting with the first show on Friday all the way to the last show on Saturday – he’ll be watching all of them!

Since the film is about the working class, a Rajnikanth fan club will be distributing welding glasses, helmets and gloves to people who are in need.

While Bollywood stars are known to fight it out for holiday weekends, a Rajnikanth film release automatically becomes a holiday for a lot of people in South India. Quite a few offices across cities in Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh will remain shut on Friday to celebrate the release of Kabali.

Quite obviously, the advance booking is beyond extraordinary. Trade sources say, more than 80-85% tickets for the entire weekend has been sold in advance in Tamilnadu.