Love in Osaka: Rajni’s Japanese fan travels to Chennai for Jailer’s first day first show

Chennai: Starting from 'Muthu', a Japanese fan, who has been watching Rajnikanth’s movies for 20 years, came from Osaka to Chennai to watch 'Jailer'.

VIDEO | A Japanese couple has travelled from Osaka to Chennai, Tamil Nadu to watch Rajinikanth's new film 'Jailer'.

"To see the Jailer movie, we have come from Japan to Chennai," says Yasuda Hidetoshi, Rajinikanth fan club leader, Japan. pic.twitter.com/04ACrc4Q5c

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 10, 2023

Avid Rajinikanth fans celebrated the release of the superstar's 'Jailer ' across Tamil Nadu on Thursday, marking the actor's return to the silver screen as 'Tiger's Muthuvel Pandian.

Theatres across the state are booked a full house through the week. Cinema halls, wore a festive look as fans cheered and danced while gathering for the first day first show. Nelson Dilipkumar's directed action flick has hyped up expectations promising action-packed entertainment was received well.

"Hukum-Tiger ka Hukum (Tiger's order)...To see 'Jailer' movie, we have come from Japan to Chennai," said Yasuda Hidetoshi, Rajinikanth fan club leader in Japan reeling 'Inga naan thaan kingu...," Hidetoshi, a dialogue from the movie. He along with his wife came to Chennai to watch the film.

Tirupur Subramaniam, film distributor and head of Tamil Nadu's Theatre Owners' Association, said: "It is a Rajinikanth film, of course, it will be ushered in with celebrations. We don't have fan shows anymore like before, but that is not dampening the spirit of the fans. The movie is being shown in 900 screens across Tamil Nadu and all of them wear a festive look."

Fans in Tamil Nadu held prayers for the success of the big-budget film. Fans took to Twitter to share screenshots of fully booked halls in their respective cities. Even in cities like Chandigarh fans report a full house.

90K tickets on BookMyShow

The official handle of PVR Cinemas has claimed that over 1.3 lakh tickets are already booked in its theatres across the country. Ashish Saksena, COO-Cinemas at BookMyShow, said of all the films being released in the upcoming weekend which collides with multiple holidays including Independence Day, 'Jailer' so far has amassed nearly 900,000 tickets.

According to him, apart from Jailer other films that are slated for release are `OMG 2' (45,000), `Gadar 2' (300,000) in Hindi, and `Bhola Shankar' (70,000).

"The advance bookings for each of the four films have commenced at different junctures and therefore a comparison between the audience interest will not be justified, especially given the variety in the quantum of screenings available. However, if we look at each of these in isolation to understand the excitement around each film, so far superstar Rajinikanth-starrer Jailer has amassed nearly 9 lakh tickets on BookMyShow," said Saksena.

Many offices declare holiday

Many offices in Benguluru, Tamil Nadu declared a holiday for Thursday so that their employees can watch the first day first show of Jailer.

A noted company Uno Aqua Care issued a notice saying: "On the release of jailer movie, we have decided to declare a holiday on August 10 to avoid piled up leave applications. The company also provided free tickets to their employees.

A coimbatore-based restaurant--Le Hive, allowed its employees to enjoy the first day first show without any hassles. Jayakrishna T J, a representative of Le Hive said that the management decided to declare a half-day holiday so that the staff can catch up the first day, first show at 9 am.

"This way, we do not have to deal with a flurry of sudden sick leaves or phones running out of battery," quipped Jayakrishna.

He also added the company is providing the staff with even free tickets to the first show.

'Jailer' also stars Mohanlal and Jackie Shroff, although the roles that they are playing have been kept out of the limelight so far. The ensemble cast includes Ramya Krishnan, Tamannah, Vinayakan, and comedian Yogi Babu. It has music by Anirudh Ravichander. Sun Pictures has produced the film.

Inputs from PTI