The show is on even before Shivaji release

Fans are fulfilling temple vows by piercing iron rods into their tongue and giving ‘milk’ bath to the superstar’s poster to whip up hysteria and ensure sufficient hype

Superstar Rajnikant’s latest film Shivaji is making waves, days before it has even hit theatres across Tamil Nadu. The film was to be released on April 14, the Tamil New Year’s Day, but the release has been postponed to mid-May. But frenzied fans are fulfilling temple vows by piercing iron rods into their tongue and giving ‘milk’ bath to the superstar’s poster to whip up hysteria and ensure sufficient hype in the run up to the release.

The story line of Shivaji remains a mystery leading to curiosity and excitement particularly among thousands of his fans across the state. Incidentally, Rajnikant’s original name is Shivajirao Gaikwad. The multi-crore budget film — some putting the figure at more than Rs 30 crore — is produced by the big banner AVM Productions. It has two other biggies involved — director Shankar of Indian fame and music director A R Rehman.

With Rajnikant’s contract including a revenue-sharing agreement with the producers, the success of the film, slated for a world-wide release, could well establish him as the highest paid actor in the country.

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In Madurai, the 1600-odd Rajnikant fan clubs have spread out across the district, preparing posters and distributing tokens at Rs 1,600, which would give them 20 tickets (four tickets per day). Normally a show is screened from 10 pm, the day before the film’s release, only for the fans. “The film was to be released on April 14. But now they tell us it is to be postponed. Fans and the general public are very disappointed. But there is a lot of anticipation,” S Jaffer, the Madurai district president of the Rajnikant Fans Club Association, told The Indian Express.

The delay has given Rajnikant’s fans more time to fulfil their temple vows and conduct other religious rituals for the film’s success. The Thirupurankunram temple for Lord Muruga, about 10 km from Madurai, has seen more than 300 fans perform ‘girivalam,’ which has devotees going around the mountain atop which the temple is situated, with iron rods pierced through their tongues.

On April 2, when five songs from the film were released, frenzied fans poured milk over a huge cutout of Rajnikant and did ‘aarti,’ offering prayers for the successful sale of the audio cassettes. “There is much expectation for the film Shivaji, as the superstar himself has stated that it is 10 times better than even Badsha, starring him and Nagma, and which recorded the highest collections,” said Jaffer. The day of the film’s release will turn Madurai into a huge village fair. Fans will walk on fire and conduct poojas in temples to ensure success for the film and the actor.

The industry grapevine has it that while an elephant carried the first cans of reels of Rajnikanth’s Baba (2002) to a theatre in Chennai, event managers plan to have a chopper drop off Shivaji’s reels.

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Meanwhile, a song in the film, Pallelakka in which lyricist N Muthukumar penned the words, ‘Cauvery aarum kaikuthal arisiyum maranthupoguma’ (Can we forget Cauvery River and the pounded rice?) has created an uproar among a section of Tamil groups. It has questioned Rajnikant’s right to mention the word ‘Cauvery’ in his song, “when he had remained silent when the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal gave its final award”.