The amazing
never-before-seen response of the Superstar’s Sivaji –
The Boss in Seattle has left everyone, including the
local exhibitor Sahasworld’s Saha Nathan in a daze.
Normally, Tamil movies are screened for two or three
shows in Seattle. Though Seattle commands a conspicuous
Indian population, due to the not too many number of
Tamil folks, Tamil films have never made it to more than
two shows. The maximum number of shows a Tamil film was
screened in Seattle was four and that was Superstar's
previous movie, Chandramukhi held that record.
Nevertheless, Sivaji was at an altogether different
level. The distributors ended up screening 9 shows for
Sivaji. Though only 5 shows had been originally planned,
due to the overwhelming response from the audience many
of whom watched it more than once, 4 more screenings
were scheduled. It did not matter to the folks here that
2 of those 9 shows were scheduled on weekdays, which are
generally considered non-movie watching days by the desi
folks here. It is safe to say that there has been and
there will be no other film like Sivaji in the history
of Tamil movies screening in Seattle as far as audience
enthusiasm and response go.
Seattle was also one of the few selected cities in the
US that has to screen the premiere show on the 14th.
That show was a festival in its own way. Rajni fans
began pouring in from around 5pm, for the 8:30 show.
Folks drove in from as far as Boise in Idaho to watch
the movie. 150 T-shirts with the Superstar picture
imprinted in it had been prepared for the occasion and
they were all distributed to the fans in a matter of few
minutes, and many ardent fans were left without
t-shirts. Some hard-core fans went to the extreme of
shaving their heads to show their fan follower ship.
The Seattle Rajni fans had also come up with a big vinyl
banner and that was on display at the entrance of the
theater. Inside the theater, the scene was no different
with shouts of Thalaivaa renting the air and fans
throwing up shredded paper whenever the Superstar
appeared on screen. It has to be said that the Adhiradi
song invoked the best response from the fans and the
viewing public alike.
A gang of around 20 die-hard Rajini fans made it a point
to watch the movie on every single day that it was
screened and thus ended up watching the movie a total of
5 times. Some of them even brought their colleagues from
work who do not understand the language but had merely
come in to experience the atmosphere.
Overall, the Sivaji mania has swept the Tamil folks in
Seattle off their feet and now they are left wanting for
more.
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