First day first show – down memory lane

superstar’s movie always gives us adrenalin rush and first day first show become inevitable and any show after that is unpardonable. How else I could describe myself as I have not any of Rajnikanth's movie second day in the past 22 years. It is a ritual of sort for the gang set aside all other releases targeting only his movie be it any occasion it become a festival for all of us. There is no kamal gang, rajni gang like that, all of us are compassionate and pathalogical movie goers in our team.

The ritual starts as soon as we saw the confirmed release dates announced in full page advertisements in Daily thanthi (those days it is acceptable now the size restricted to a maximum of quarter page) which is the only source of information as far as cinema is concerned. No channels, no fm radios, not much magazine reading, no internet etc all that adds to the suspense of watching as the story unfolds (many times it is the same old story ) but never mind it is superstar who is doing his part ( careful I have not mentioned the word acting which he has done in select movies not in all ) A point of information here is he has acted in the same story 4 times in 3 different languages. Tiger ( with NTR ), Sagodhara sabatham ( with vishnuvarthan ) Neruppu, and Siva ( with raghuvaran) all are same story with character interchanged. This is a record of sorts and all the films were bombed at the box office.

One week prior to the release the team assembled in a common place discussed about the financial viabilities and ticket availabilities. First things first some one has to have a contact with a fan club member of the town so as the chance of a miss during fan club shows will not go awry. We had a designated person for that job and he has taken care of the job for more than 3 years before we become self reliant of getting tickets on our own. Diwali and rajni movie always had more charm as the competition between rajni and kamal a treat to watch. We never worried about the competition, anyhow we are going to watch both of them one by one same day.

Then come the financial part. As like all gangs, some guys are rich some or not so. The fund collection will go on full swing and will finish in a day or two safely given to the ticket bearer ( he is the real hero as far as his own opinion is concerned ) without him we are nothing. No mobiles, no telephone, no sms, we have to wait till his arrival that night with bated breath. His smiling face and hard push of pedals announces he has completed his mission and all of us give a high five on seeing the tickets. Then the discussion about the story begins and the discussion touched topics which are not even discussed by the actor and the film crew.

We had a customary habit continued till some of us getting married which is nothing but go for a movie before diwali night which considerably reduces the number of hours between the main movie and our waking hours. We left with hardly 4 to 5 hours of sleep as the movie begins at 7.30 in the morning. Parents of all of us wonder how come these guys woke up at 4.30 when they reached home only 1.30 the previous night and fresh for the festival. The trick lies in the tickets which they come to know when we say no breakfast till 11.

6.00 am all guys in the street with new dress, boxes of crackers dumped in a single place and the fire works goes on for an hour. When a group of members goes on a rampage nothing is left for more than an hour. 7 o clock the cycle starts some has two some has three with the person sitting cross-legged in the pillion helped on pedaling. The procession reaches the theatre and all the passengers jumped off and rushing to the queue bulging by the minute. The clever one inserted himself with the mob entered the theatre successfully and wave from inside and entered the hall for marking the seats. A sigh of relief which can make a cotton market caught fire by its sheer heat is our sign of approval of his achievement.

We enter the hall with big OH, OOH, KEEE and all sorts of sounds, whistles, wild applauses with our new clothes fully drenched in the sweat, cigarettes smudged, hair lines out of order, with some bruises we take during our final push at the counter space to enter inside. Never mind guys it is superstar we are watching. No pain no gain. With only five minutes before start the poor operator has to undergo all the abuses from the movie watchers for no fault of his. Profanities galore, cat calls at their peak. There goes the screen black announcing the magic of superstar come alive in front of us, all our discomforts like not having break fast, the rush, the push, the hush, the hotch-potch of everything melts like an early morning snow when sun at its bright side.

Whole theatre erupted on the title and the name of the star appears, with lottery tickets torn and loitered in front of the projector hole, some taking a aarti, some guys started dancing before the screens it takes atleast 10 to 15 minutes after the arrival of the super star the initial euphoria gets sated. For all of us the real fun lies in the first 15 minutes. Rest of the things and sidelights are bonus…..Our day on any festival begins at 7.30 in a theatre and ends at 1.30 in the night in a theatre…..

Guys are you ready for the mela one more time?