Rajini's new movie on screen is called Jailer, but his fans know that he releases them—even if momentarily—from their troubles and into feelings of ecstatic abandon in darkened halls
Offices declared a holiday in Chennai as superstar Rajinikanth's new film Jailer hit the screens worldwide yesterday. Ardent fans grabbed a first-day first-show seat to devour their action hero on screen, as opening day box office rang in over Rs72 crores globally. With a racy screenplay laced with humour and Rajini's amplified presence, Jailer whipped up the elation of the fans as they flooded out of cinema halls last evening.
In any case, as these photos below testify, does the box office matter to a fan who can shut out his world for a couple of hours, becoming one with a hero who fights the fight for him? Ensuring justice to the lowliest on screen, Rajini embraces the common man—burdened with his shameful, hidden bundle of life's hurts—and releases him into cathartic, ecstatic abandon in a darkened hall.
Image: Punit PARANJPE / AFP
Fans pour milk in a gesture of offering to a large banner of actor Rajinikanth before the screening of his new Tamil-language movie Jailer on the first day of its release, outside a theatre in Mumbai on August 10, 2023.
Image: Punit PARANJPE / AFP
Fans react ardently during the screening of actor Rajinikanth's new Tamil-language movie Jailer on the first day of its release, inside a theatre in Mumbai on August 10, 2023.