Let the celebrations begin
The hype is maddening.
The buzz is unbelievable.
The excitement level is touching dizzying heights.
The biggest movie of Tamil cinema is here, finally.
After more than 2 years of waiting during which every single piece of information was lapped up by Thalaivar fans and the general public alike, the movie is ready to hit the screens. I just can not believe that I would have watched Sivaji in another 30 hours from the time of writing this. Like they say, this almost has been a 2 year thavam.
Whatever has been happening these last few days, first when the audio of the movie was released and then, when the trailer was released, has been nothing short of phenomenal. Seriously, who else can make the following happen:
- The fact that the trailer will be available for viewing is being announced as a headline news in channels like CNN IBN and Sun TV. I mean, whose movie's trailer can even elicit such a response from the media?
- There were so many Thalaivar fans who went to the theaters just to watch the trailer. Once the trailer is telecast in the interval, they are making their way out of the theater and some are even shouting for Once more for trailer. Check this video out for the scene inside the theater when the trailer was shown.
- Folks froze the trailer frame by frame and ultimately found that Shankar gives us all a sneak peek of the Mottai boss get-up that Thalaivar sports in the movie.
The man's reach is just crazy.
- You login to Orkut and you see thousands of folks having their names changed to something about the movie with the Pera kaetta udane chumma adhirudhila being the favorite of many fans.
- I meet someone for the first time at his place and naturally when the topic of Sivaji comes up, the guy I was meeting says his mother-in-law who is in town for the holidays, is a huge Thalaivar fan and she is eagerly expecting the movie to be released. She is already collecting pennies to be thrown at the screen when Thalaivar appears on screen.
- One fan (yours truly) drove 14 hours all the way from Seattle to San Francisco all by himself, just so that he wanted to catch the movie on the first day of the release and did not want to wait for 5 long days, after which it was anyway releasing in Seattle.
- One friend of mine who had come to the US on an onsite deputation pestered his onsite manager to release him ahead of schedule from the project so that he can catch a glimpse of Thalaivar in his favorite Albert theater
- After a good day of cricket, I am chilling out with my friend and on hearing the word Thalaivar uttered by me, another Tamil guy stops by and he starts his rant. He is married and has 2 kids, a 5 year old and a 3 year old. He says he has been a Thalaivar fan for like 15 years and was a member of the local rasigar mandram back in Chennai and during his time in India, he has never missed a single FDFS in Albert. And he says that his son is as big a fan of Thalaivar as himself.
- Or take the case of another friend of mine - he says that we should record everything about the release of Sivaji. By that he means starting from the trivial act of going to the Indian store and getting the tickets. He wants to photograph it and keep it for the record.
I am sure there are thousands of stories like this, all across the globe. And if this was the case here in the US, imagine the response of fans back in Chennai and the rest of Tamil Nadu. Paalaabishekam has already been performed on Thalaivar's cutouts, on the day when advance bookings started. Fans in Thirupparankundram are eating mannchOru as their way of praying for the success of the movie.
Seriously, everywhere you turn around, there is a Thalaivar fan to be found. At times, the love this man commands among his fans is just mind-blowing. I always say this to my friends: If you were to videotape me while I watched Chandramukhi and showed it to me a few days later, I would not believe that it is me That is so much true. He literally sends us all into a frenzy. I can try using every single adjective in the English dictionary that mean mind-blowing but I still will not make justice to what the man has been able to accomplish. We have seen fanatics for everything (cricket, star wars, Spiderman, to name a few) but I sincerely feel that this just beats everything hands down.
The following are some of the plans that myself and some Thalaivar fans in Seattle are planning to welcome The Boss:
- Yours truly and 5 others are watching 4 shows in 4 days. The original plan was to watch all the 6 shows that are being screened in Seattle but due to overlapping of show timings for 2 shows, I was unable to execute that plan. But even then, since the person who is screening the movie here in Seattle is a friend of my friend, he has given me something called Master pass which will substitute for tickets. So, after watching the 11am show on Saturday, I can go in and sit for the show that started at 1:30pm and watch the remaining scenes of that show.
- One Thalaivar fans has already tonsured his head to match Thalaivar's mottai boss make-up
- For the last 7 days, I have been only listening to songs from Thalaivar movies, whether it be at home, or at work or in my car. I started with Sivaji and worked my way backwards and I almost succeeded in listening to all the songs of Thalaivar that I have with me.
- Upon suggestion of a friend of mine, it has been decided that my car will be used to transport the film roll of the movie from the airport to the distributor's place, so that in the future, I can paste a sticker in my car saying Sivaji reel potti was here :)
- Then tomorrow, we have planned to use a caravan of like 10-20 cars to take the movie from the distributor's place to the theater.
- We have already prepared a 8 feet by 3 feet Vinyl poster with 4 of Thalaivar's photos from Sivaji in it. This poster will be hung outside the theater during all 4 days when the movie is screened.
- 50 t-shirts with Thalaivar's picture printed on it have been made and the premiere show tomorrow evening will see all hard core Thalaivar fans (like me) wearing the T-shirt while watching the movie
So, everything is set for Thalaivar's power & style to be unleashed on the silver screen. Can't wait to shout Thalaivaaaaaaaa when the man appears on screen, in a matter of hours from now.
p.s. Question for Thalaivar fans: How many times does SPB utters the word Mei in the sequence in Ballelakka song?
The buzz is unbelievable.
The excitement level is touching dizzying heights.
The biggest movie of Tamil cinema is here, finally.
After more than 2 years of waiting during which every single piece of information was lapped up by Thalaivar fans and the general public alike, the movie is ready to hit the screens. I just can not believe that I would have watched Sivaji in another 30 hours from the time of writing this. Like they say, this almost has been a 2 year thavam.
Whatever has been happening these last few days, first when the audio of the movie was released and then, when the trailer was released, has been nothing short of phenomenal. Seriously, who else can make the following happen:
- The fact that the trailer will be available for viewing is being announced as a headline news in channels like CNN IBN and Sun TV. I mean, whose movie's trailer can even elicit such a response from the media?
- There were so many Thalaivar fans who went to the theaters just to watch the trailer. Once the trailer is telecast in the interval, they are making their way out of the theater and some are even shouting for Once more for trailer. Check this video out for the scene inside the theater when the trailer was shown.
- Folks froze the trailer frame by frame and ultimately found that Shankar gives us all a sneak peek of the Mottai boss get-up that Thalaivar sports in the movie.
The man's reach is just crazy.
- You login to Orkut and you see thousands of folks having their names changed to something about the movie with the Pera kaetta udane chumma adhirudhila being the favorite of many fans.
- I meet someone for the first time at his place and naturally when the topic of Sivaji comes up, the guy I was meeting says his mother-in-law who is in town for the holidays, is a huge Thalaivar fan and she is eagerly expecting the movie to be released. She is already collecting pennies to be thrown at the screen when Thalaivar appears on screen.
- One fan (yours truly) drove 14 hours all the way from Seattle to San Francisco all by himself, just so that he wanted to catch the movie on the first day of the release and did not want to wait for 5 long days, after which it was anyway releasing in Seattle.
- One friend of mine who had come to the US on an onsite deputation pestered his onsite manager to release him ahead of schedule from the project so that he can catch a glimpse of Thalaivar in his favorite Albert theater
- After a good day of cricket, I am chilling out with my friend and on hearing the word Thalaivar uttered by me, another Tamil guy stops by and he starts his rant. He is married and has 2 kids, a 5 year old and a 3 year old. He says he has been a Thalaivar fan for like 15 years and was a member of the local rasigar mandram back in Chennai and during his time in India, he has never missed a single FDFS in Albert. And he says that his son is as big a fan of Thalaivar as himself.
- Or take the case of another friend of mine - he says that we should record everything about the release of Sivaji. By that he means starting from the trivial act of going to the Indian store and getting the tickets. He wants to photograph it and keep it for the record.
I am sure there are thousands of stories like this, all across the globe. And if this was the case here in the US, imagine the response of fans back in Chennai and the rest of Tamil Nadu. Paalaabishekam has already been performed on Thalaivar's cutouts, on the day when advance bookings started. Fans in Thirupparankundram are eating mannchOru as their way of praying for the success of the movie.
Seriously, everywhere you turn around, there is a Thalaivar fan to be found. At times, the love this man commands among his fans is just mind-blowing. I always say this to my friends: If you were to videotape me while I watched Chandramukhi and showed it to me a few days later, I would not believe that it is me That is so much true. He literally sends us all into a frenzy. I can try using every single adjective in the English dictionary that mean mind-blowing but I still will not make justice to what the man has been able to accomplish. We have seen fanatics for everything (cricket, star wars, Spiderman, to name a few) but I sincerely feel that this just beats everything hands down.
The following are some of the plans that myself and some Thalaivar fans in Seattle are planning to welcome The Boss:
- Yours truly and 5 others are watching 4 shows in 4 days. The original plan was to watch all the 6 shows that are being screened in Seattle but due to overlapping of show timings for 2 shows, I was unable to execute that plan. But even then, since the person who is screening the movie here in Seattle is a friend of my friend, he has given me something called Master pass which will substitute for tickets. So, after watching the 11am show on Saturday, I can go in and sit for the show that started at 1:30pm and watch the remaining scenes of that show.
- One Thalaivar fans has already tonsured his head to match Thalaivar's mottai boss make-up
- For the last 7 days, I have been only listening to songs from Thalaivar movies, whether it be at home, or at work or in my car. I started with Sivaji and worked my way backwards and I almost succeeded in listening to all the songs of Thalaivar that I have with me.
- Upon suggestion of a friend of mine, it has been decided that my car will be used to transport the film roll of the movie from the airport to the distributor's place, so that in the future, I can paste a sticker in my car saying Sivaji reel potti was here :)
- Then tomorrow, we have planned to use a caravan of like 10-20 cars to take the movie from the distributor's place to the theater.
- We have already prepared a 8 feet by 3 feet Vinyl poster with 4 of Thalaivar's photos from Sivaji in it. This poster will be hung outside the theater during all 4 days when the movie is screened.
- 50 t-shirts with Thalaivar's picture printed on it have been made and the premiere show tomorrow evening will see all hard core Thalaivar fans (like me) wearing the T-shirt while watching the movie
So, everything is set for Thalaivar's power & style to be unleashed on the silver screen. Can't wait to shout Thalaivaaaaaaaa when the man appears on screen, in a matter of hours from now.
p.s. Question for Thalaivar fans: How many times does SPB utters the word Mei in the sequence in Ballelakka song?
posted by Filbert at 2:26 PM
18 Comments:
Excellent post. I live in Phoenix, AZ and can relate to most of the things you say. I still get excited watching him, listen to his film songs hundreds of times and he is the only actor of whom I have 90% of the songs from films he has acted in. I cannot wait until Friday when it is releasing here. My kids love him too and I think he is the only actor in India who people love regardless of gender, age and social position.
I have seen many blogs that talkj about Rajini/Sivaji but YOU truly are THE #1 fan of Rajini. Your passion and excitement for Rajini/Sivaji shows in your words.
Have you noticed that Rajini's mottai looks like Blaaze's.........that the secret?
Nudge Nudge
3 words for you Filby -- "Go for it".
I have to wait until 30th to watch the movie.
3 words for me -- "Wait for it".
-Rajesh
What can i say...am jus jealous...all my friends like u in singapore Dubai US are gonna c them so easily in the first few days...ingae ore rahalai thaan...today (thursday ) morning they opned booking fr shivaji in 5 theatres and at around 7 AM my friend was running from thatre to theatre to find only 2K to 5K people easily standing inthe queue...the helm was at inox were a cool 5Kppl were spotted in queue it seems...ingae ratha bhooomi eh irukku...anywyaz u enjoyy...Boss jusone request...before u go on to write the review of the century for sivaji jus write in one word ur feeling after seeing the movie in this blog...for some insane reason all praises abt thalaiavr simply raise hairs....
awesome post that perfectly describes the feelings of all thalaivar fans today. wish i had 1 of those t-shirts u printed. would've loved to wear it to the theater :) did u see the new stills in rediff today? the first one and the one from the stunt sequence r simply mindblowing!
Thanks for the comment and the compliment, Ramesh. But the thing about being the number 1 fan of Thalaivar - that is some title that no fan of Thalaivar can claim :) Each one of his fans are fanatic in their own ways. And you said it exactly right when you write he is the only actor in India who people love regardless of gender, age and social position. Happy Sivaji Day :)
Yes Prin, the moment I saw Blaaze in person, that was the first thing that stuck my mind too. But that is not the secret :) Few more hours and the whole world will know.
Awesome comment Rajesh :) I can perfectly understand your pain (?!) Already the reviews are saying that the movie rocks. So, the movie will definitely be worth the wait.
Amazing to see the maddening demand for tickets everywhere, even with the movie being released in so many theaters (of course with the exception of Bangalore). I loved the way how you put it ingae ratha bhooomi eh irukku LOL
And about your request - kandippaa Naren. That is what I am planning too. I will get back to my apartment at around 1 am after watching the movie. Will post a short review of the movie, if I can manage to do that :) The problem is I am watching 4 shows in 4 days (and 5th one is on the radar). So, detailed frame by frame review varradhukku it might take atleast until Monday.
The most important lesson for me from Rajini is his Modesty and Humility even with all this fame and fortune.
You also seem to have taken that lesson to heart.
This is quite awesome...
I could not even express myself by posting my comments here... Mind blowing is what that comes to my mind...
Thalaivar Rocks!!! :)
Still i have vivid memories of watching chandramukhi(FDFS) in chennai... Nothing beats the experience watching FDFS in TamilNadu...
Oh My GOD!! This is just getting frenzier...
Sundar J
LA
Thanks Balaji. When I started to write that post (way back), so many thoughts went through my head and so, I was just wandering here and there in my post. But happy that you liked it. About the t-shirt - I am sure there are folks in the Bay Area who will be wearing something like that.
And yeah, I did see the new stills from Rediff. That stunt scene pose was unbelievable. Can't imagine Thalaivar is doing all that at this age.
Thanks Ramesh. Modesty and humility are 2 qualities that everyone should take a leaf out of Thalaivar's personality. I am not sure if you saw this interview. Check it out:
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/videos.aspx?id=14366
Can agree how you feel right now Sundar :) The excitement that has been building up these last few days is simply unprecedented and it looks like, from the few initial reviews, the movie has most certainly lived up to its hype.
But that is true - not just the FDFS experience but any show during the first week in Tamil Nadu is unparalleled.
Filby,
I got goose bumps after reading your post. Easily the best U have penned in a very long time. If I feel like this, just reading a post, I really can't imagine the blood-rush that's gonna happen to me, when I watch Thalaivar in theatre ( that too in India) I envy U, as U gonna watch it to-day and I have to wait for another 3 days ... but a comforting factor for me, is I am gonna watch it India, so I am happy with that :)
I am so happy that my post about Thalaivar is being liked so many :) The problem with writing any post about Thalaivar is that I easily go overboard and start rambling and when the subject of the post is Sivaji, it becomes more difficult for me to channelize all my thoughts on the movie and the man :)
Though I am excited that I will be seeing the movie tonight, I still envy you for you will be watching it in Chennai. Andha excitement engaiyum kedaikkaadhu Sesh. Have fun. Will call you tonight (before the movie).
filby,
movie reviews are gr8. lives definitely upto and surpasses what u saw in theatre !!!
i just cant wait for Saturday AN... by the way, add few of us in the list..
driving down from ohio to NJ coz they wont release here until 24th.. T-shirts are ready.. few ppl planning to come in vetti sattai..
soodam,poosanikkai,fat-free milk etc are in order i guess !!!
west coast guys are really lucky.. as i type, they are watching the movie and i have to wait for more than a day !! how bad :(
by the way, i was hearing online when my friend in west coast was watching the movie.. never ever one could have heard that much sound when AVM logo was shown !!
was online until ballelakka song started.. :)
do pen down ur experiences and i will read it first thing tomorrow morning :)
//
what u saw in theatre
//
typo.. change theatre to trailer !!
hand and legs are not running :)
Post a Comment
<< Home