Sivaji the Sensation

I was never planning to watch Sivaji, The Boss, Rajnikanth’s latest blockbuster on the second day of its release. Infact, I didn’t know I’d be in one of the theatres this morning till the fag end of yesterday. The whole of Friday went by as if a carnival was happening around the corner and I wasn’t a part of it.

Stories came in hordes.

Articles on Sivaji topped the ‘most read’ sections in newspapers. Sivaji made to the headlines in every news channel worth a mention. About 2100 members were to hit the theatres on Saturday from the company where I work. One employee bunked the office on Friday – first day of release – citing the classic ‘grandmother’ reasons and was caught red-handed while giving a review to NDTV. I don’t know what he was thinking! Purely official mails carried the ‘Boss’ themes. Magazines wrote about tickets selling at 1,900 Rs and being sold out till the end of June'07. You hear about the 30$ tickets in the US, and a guy spending 50$ on popcorn for jubilation throws. The temptation was too much to resist. And then, an influential friend of mine gave the lucky call - first show on the second day of release. ‘Wow!’

I hit the theatre at 7.30 this morning. The first thing I noticed was the presence of police – understandably to ebb the frenzy. The movie started, the 'Boss' walked in with a mask, the dancing began, the whistles blew everyone’s eardrums off, and all of it peaked to an unprecedented high when the Superstar gave his first glance at the audience. Amidst the crescendo, in that moment, that very moment, you know there can only be one such guy, perhaps in the whole world.

The movie itself is proper entertainment – one that just can’t wrong. The first half just rolls across – and you just feel very happy being there. Vivek is at his best; Shriya’s got a thunderbolt screen presence, and AR Rahman’s tunes keeps growing on you as you listen more and more. The plot is a perfect mass entertainer, one where nothing can ever go wrong – good wins evil, do-good to society, and a bunch of dumb villains. Add to all this, the music videos are something else – you know where all the money went in making this the costliest Indian movie yet. Let’s not even start about Superstar’s antics and their effects on the audience.

I don’t think I was a full-time Rajnikanth fan before, but I guess I am one now. Salutations to the brand called Rajni, one that has been built without even endorsing one product on small screen television or anywhere else.

Watch the movie if you don’t want to be left out of the carnival in the town. Watch the movie because everyone around is going to speak about it – for sometime to come. Watch the movie because it’s the latest ‘Da Vinci Code’ in this part of the world. Watch it coz you have to watch it!