As sincere fans lined up outside theatres across Chennai on Thursday to watch their 'Thalaivar' Rajinikanth's 'Kabali' in action, the entire movie was already uploaded on the internet.
Some video hosting sites had the entire movie up, and it had garnered over 57,000 views at the time of writing.
Most of the prints that are doing the rounds seem pirated and recorded in theatres as the audiences can be heard shouting and whistling.
One site even allows the direct download of any video on their website.
The link to the movie is also being widely circulated on Whatsapp groups.
On Wednesday, a two-minute introduction scene of the movie had leaked online, much to the disappointment of Thalaivar’s hardcore fans.
The exact source of the leak is not yet known.
Rajinikanth’s fans were upset over the leak and vowed to not watch it, come what may. In a way, the leak further raised the expectations and audiences were even more eager to watch the film in cinemas on Friday.
Producer Kalaippuli S Thanu took to Twitter, appealing to people to watch the movie in theaters.