Early bird catches the worm?

Just a few days ago, there was the blockbuster movie of Rajanikanth which was released – 2.0. In Mumbai, the Aurora theater celebrated the release like a festival. And the rituals are exactly like how they are in Tamil Nadu – an early morning release, 6.am, starting with a milk bath given to the giant cut out of Rajani.

So what is it with Tamil movies and an early morning release? This tradition probably started in the 90s and was the given to the two biggest star of the time – Rajani and Kamal Hassan.

In fact in Chennai, every Thalaiva movie sees his fans waking up at 2 am to get to the movie for the rituals. Today, the same culture of the early morning has now percolated to all stars. Last week, Vijay Deverakonda, who made his debut in Tamil cinema with NOTA, was given a red carpet reception at a popular theatre with an early morning show. Now, many new releases are having early morning shows in multiple screens and the competition among theatres in suburban Chennai means that fans can book their seats many days before release.

The most crazy thing? There are actually traffic jams in some parts of the city at 5am, with fans clamoring to get to the Rajani show! This can happen only in India!