Will Kaala set the box office on fire or just end up in smoke?

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Two years ago, in July 2016, when Kabali was about to hit the theatres, the words kabalida and neruppuda rent the air. Magizhchi (happiness) was apparent on the faces of Rajini fans. Six-feet high cut-outs of the actor sported enormous garlands, and litres of milk flowed down. The sound of crackers shook the heavens. The actor's salt and pepper beard, and the signature strut, as witnessed in the trailers that prefaced the movie, all added to the atmosphere of festivity.

But, two years down the line, Chennai, on the eve of the release of Kaala, seems to be missing all the magizhchi that Kabali boasted of. There is no festive ambience. Two theatres in Chennai—Udhayam cinemas and Kamala cinemas—that draw the middle and the lower class crowd are not screening Kaala. Kasi Theatre and Rohini cinemas, the haunt of Rajinikanth fans for the first day first show, are devoid of its traditional, sizeable posters. Chennai’s biggest Sathyam cinemas, and the Baby Albert theatre, have no cut-outs displayed in front. The usual serpentine queues and the mad crowd that bellowed thalaiva and 'superstar', too, are missing. And where were the fans who flew down from Malaysia, Singapore, Mumbai or Delhi, to watch the first day first day first show in all its grandeur?

If we check online, there are seats vacant, even for the weekend shows. The ticket counter employees have not gotten tired of saying that booking is closed, like it was the case for Kabali release, when they were blasted by the fans for selling out tickets days before. Kabali ticket rates even went up to Rs 3,000 outside the counter. But, this time, for Kaala, it is Rs 207—the actual ticket rate in the counters in Chennai theatres. The hype in social media, too, is missing. The Twitter emoji for Kaala, introduced by the producers to keep the momentum going, too, seems to have fallen flat.

Rajinikanth, till December 31, 2017—the day he announced his entry into politics—was a brand unto himself. Anything named Rajinikanth or even the name of his films would sell like hot cakes. This time too, Kaala tees and Kaala coffee cups are out. But, there are not many buyers for it like Kabali.

There are three reasons for the muted response, say industry experts. One is that there is no business factor. The second is that there is no punchline or a single punch word like neruppuda or kabalida to attract the audience other than his fans. Third, Rajinikanth is no more just an actor, he is a politician. The hero, the messiah of the oppressed, as projected in Kaala, is a new entrant in Tamil Nadu politics. Politician Rajinikanth can’t just utter the punch dialogues and get away within three hours. The expectations are high as the dialogues can’t just be on reel, but in reality too, like yesteryear MGR films.

Rajinikanth’s recent outburst after visiting Thoothukudi and his comments against protests and protesters have stoked the controversy further, pushing down the support for Kaala. Its director Pa Ranjith, a day after Rajinikanth's visit to Thoothukudi, managed to do some damage control with a new trailer. It had strong scenes where police opened fire, and Kaala (name of Rajini’s character) fought them. But no control seems to have worked.

The two punch lines kya re setting ha and vengai mavan othaila nikken too don’t carry the fire in them like in Kabali. It may be recalled that after his super hit Robot, it was only Kabali which saw Rs 650 crore box office collection. But, after Robot and before Kabali, his Kochadaiyaan, directed by his daughter Soundarya Rajinikanth and his next Lingaa bombed at the box office. It was Kabali which, in 2016, after a gap of over five years, restored Rajini’s image as a superstar.

Despite all this, his ardent fans still wait with bated breath for the first show to watch the superstar take the silver screen by storm, in his own inimitable way.

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