Sivaj's impact at Coonor
With all the four theatres in Coonoor remaining closed in the context of the owners complaining of losses arising from poor public patronage, Rajni fans have little option than to travel 18 km to Udhagamandalam where the blockbuster Sivaji is on screen in two theatres or to go 75 kilometres to Coimbatore to enjoy the movie in a city ambience. Hard core Rajni fans did exactly that. Like NM Abdul, a tailor in Coonoor municipal market, who travelled to Coimbatore on June 14 itself to be among the first to watch the movie screened exclusively for the Rajni fans at 6.30 am on June 15, the opening day.But he did not return until he joined a group of young relatives to see the movie again the same evening in another theatre. “I have this fancy of seeing Rajni films in the very first show. Since there is no theatre in Coonoor, I had to suspend business for three days to enjoy Sivaji with other similar fans. I cannot say that we saw every frame of the movie. But sure, we whistled wherever we could and danced wherever we should. This enjoyment does not come in regular shows. Of course, I had spent around Rs 600 in all, but the enjoyment once in two years when a Rajni movie hits the screen is certainly worth this,” he told this website's newspaper.Contending that he chose Coimbatore for seeing the movie because of the exquisite city experience and the ’majesty’ of the theatres, he said he would consider taking his family to the movie now that the initial ’fan’ fare is over. “Now is the time for the families to see the movie,” he recommended to a few of his customers. Even as of now, there is not a long list of youngsters in Coonoor who could claim to have seen Sivaji.
Surprisingly, the movie had not impacted many college goers as well. But the debate as to who excelled - Rajni or Vivek - in the movie is live among the youth here as well. Most have seen the repeated trails and advertisement promos in TV channels.Film personality Y Gee Mahendra, who, incidentally, is the co-brother of Rajnikath, told this correspondent in Coonoor:“I loved the movie, but am unable to digest people complaining that there is no message in this. One does not go to Rajni movie for a message and everything the fans need is there. I also don’t agree with people who say that there is no punch line and all the punches have been given by Vivek. Rajni has done something different and the experiment is totally successful.”
