The films Jilla, starring actor Vijay and Malayalam matinee idol Mohanlal, and Ajit-starrer Veeram
that were released at multiple screens across the city, brought in
thousands of fans of the top actors to the theatres early on Friday. The
fans celebrated the first shows with fire crackers, milk abishekams,
and distributed sweets to all those who had gone to attend the shows.
Police were posted in strength at several theatres where the movies
were released to ensure that no untoward incidents took place.
Sources
in the film industry said tickets were booked much in advance for
these films in some of the theatres and sold for prices up to Rs500 per
ticket and even more in some cases.
In Coimbatore, school and
college students and women trooped into theatres to watch the first show
of their favourite stars’ movies. Crackers were burst, festoons
adorned the streets, life-size cut-outs dazzled. And the banners of
Ajith and Vijay were bathed in milk and adorned with garlands.
Clearly,
it was like another Deepavali just ahead of Pongal. In the pre-dawn
hours, the roads leading to Karpagam complex on 100 feet road, Baba
complex at Flower Market, K.G. complex near Race Course and Senthil
complex at Gandhipuram, Central road, on the Mettupalayam road, were
choked with motorbikes and cars.
For the first time, there was a sizeable number of women for the pre-dawn show of Ajith-starrer Veeram
in the theatres. “The movie is a masala entertainer with a family
story, including sentiments, comedy and action. Hence, it was not the
usual Ajith movie – it’s something different," said Praveena, a
final-year college student.
“I woke up at 3 am to go to the
theatre and watch Ajith’s movie,” beamed Mohammed Fahim, a class 6
student of a city school. “It was real good fun,” he says. For the
“fun”, the fans had to pay an exorbitant price ranging from Rs350 to
Rs1,000.
Vijay fans club president Yuvaraj said Jilla was
a mega entertainer. There was huge response and many theatres were
screening in the western region of Tamil Nadu. The movie had a mixed
audience of Keralites and locals, he said.
The two films are
booked out till this weekend. Central theatre manager Suburamaniam said
there were no tickets for the next three days. “Both Vijay and Ajith
movie shows are running houseful and it’s double the business compared
to Deepavali. We have deployed additional workers to manage the crowds,”
he said.
The film distributors are gloating over the good opening. “Till Pongal holidays, Veeram movie ticket is almost blocked and expected to be houseful for continuous days,’ said Dhinakar Perumal, a film distributor.
