Ahead of Superstar Rajinikanth’s Darbar release for Pongal on January 9, SpiceJet airlines is promoting the film by unveiling ‘Darbar Rajini’ livery on its flights. The outside branding of the flight bearing an image of Rajinikanth in police uniform from his upcoming movie Darbar also has the film’s title on it. The pictures of the flight were shared by Anirudh, the film’s music director and Rajinikanth’s nephew, on his Instagram page.
A representative from SpiceJet confirmed to TNM that four aircraft are already flying with the brand new ‘Thalaivar’ livery on them.
This is the second time that a Rajinikanth film has had a promo on an aircraft. The first time was by AirAsia, just before the release of his Kabali in 2016. According to reports, AirAsia India, the official airline partner of the movie, had also planned a special flight from Bengaluru to Chennai to carry guests to watch the first show of the movie. A media contest was also run to select guests to watch special shows and to visit places in Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok where the movie was shot.
Darbar, starring Rajinikanth and Nayanthara in the lead, is one of the highly anticipated films of 2020. Directed by AR Murugadoss, the film also has Suniel Shetty, Prateik Babbar, Yogi Babu, Jeeva, Prakash Raj, Nivetha Thomas, Dalip Tahil, Soori, Harish Uthaman, Manobala, Suman, Anandaraj, Rao Ramesh and Bose Venkat in the cast.
The film recently ran into controversy when Malaysia-based firm DMY Creations SDN BHD filed a suit with the Madras High Court alleging that the film’s producers, Lyca Productions, owe them a sum of Rs 23.70 crores in connection with the distribution of films produced by the latter including 2.0, Kaala and Vada Chennai in Malaysia.
When the matter came up for hearing before Justice Jayachandran on January 2, it was adjourned to January 3, based on Lyca’s request for more time.