As fans eagerly await the release of Rajinikanth’s next movie Jailer directed by Nelson Dilipkumar, they might be in for a disappointment. Breaking the convention for big star vehicles, theatres across Tamil Nadu will not be screening early morning shows at 4 am or 6 am. The movie, set to release on Thursday, August 10, will be one of the first movies with a star as big as Rajinikanth to not have early morning shows. Theatre owners across the state believe that cancelling these shows might help reduce the chaos and even violence that are typical of early morning screenings. However, early morning shows will be screened in the neighbouring states of Kerala and Karnataka.
It would not be an overstatement to dub early morning shows in Tamil Nadu as ‘festivals’. Reserved usually for the movies of big star heroes such as Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Vijay and Ajith Kumar, tickets for early morning shows are often booked by members of the actors’ fan associations, at very high prices. Theatres are decked up with huge cutouts of the stars, and ‘paal abishegam’ (a religious ritual where idols of deities are doused with milk) is performed on them. Once the screening begins inside the theatre, confetti would be thrown as the hero makes his entry in the movie, and fans even step onto the elevated platform near the screen to dance to popular songs. With the cheering and clapping of the fans, the remaining audiences can barely hear the dialogues, but the event is seen as a celebration of the star and not just a movie screening.
The celebrations during early morning shows have often escalated to violence and even become fatal for fans on some occasions. In January 2023, the movies of two rival stars Ajith Kumar (Thunivu) and Vijay (Varisu) released on the same day. A 19-year-old fan who was celebrating Thunivu’s release by dancing on top of a lorry fell down and died from spinal injuries. Violence also broke out in Coimbatore after fans barged into the theatres at 11:30 pm for a 1 am show. The police attempted to control them which was following by clashes between the two groups.
Even before the release of Thunivu and Varisu, there was a government order in Tamil Nadu directing theatre owners to cancel early morning shows for these movies. The notification from the government also said that permission should not be granted for performing ‘paal abishegam’ on cutouts of the stars. Now, similar rules are being enforced for the movies of big stars across Tamil Nadu.
In May 2022, a petition was filed in the Madras High Court by a person named Vignesh Krishna stating that the exorbitant ticket prices collected during special shows were in violation of the Tamil Nadu Cinemas (Regulations) Act, 1955 and Tamil Nadu Cinemas Rules, 1957. According to a report in The New Indian Express, the petitioner also said that while theatres were allowed to screen only four shows per day, several theatres were violating this by screening several late night shows between 1.30 am and 9 am. The court asked the state government and the police to take necessary action to prevent any violations related to movie screenings.
In January 2023, YouTuber Savukku Shankar filed a complaint with Governor RN Ravi, alleging that these early morning shows were an “abuse of power” by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and his son and Youth Welfare and Sports Development Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin. In his complaint, Shankar also mentioned the death of the young fan after the release of Thuniv. Shankar accused CM Stalin and his son, as both Thunivu and Varisu were distributed by Red Giant Movies, a production house run by Udhayanidhi Stalin. Even as recently as July 31, Shankar said that he would push his complaint with the Governor if there are early morning shows for Jailer. It is to be noted that Jailer is also being distributed by Red Giant Movies.
Speaking to TNM, Tiruppur Subramanian, head of the Tamil Nadu Theatre Association, said that there will be no more early morning celebratory shows across Tamil Nadu. He said, “There are no special shows for fan associations or any show before 9 am. We were conducting early morning shows earlier, but it created a lot of problems for us. So, it was the collective decision of theatre owners, film producers and distributors to cancel early morning shows.” Apart from that, Subramanain also said theatres are not charging more than Rs 190 for tickets, even during the opening weekend of Jailer.
Director of Kamala Cinemas Surya Chidambaram also agreed with Subramanian’s views. He told TNM, “The 6 am shows have been cancelled to control the crowd. They are fans, and there is nothing wrong with that, but why create a situation where something could go wrong? At Kamala Theatres, we have been discouraging ‘paal abishegham’ type of celebrations since 2009, so chances of something wrong happening here is low.”
When asked if fans would be disappointed with the cancellation of the early morning shows, Subramanian said, “I don’t think it will make a difference. Earlier fans would watch shows at 4 am or 6 am and now it is a few hours later. They are still watching the first show of the first day.”
But the mere cancellation of special early shows doesn’t mean the end of Tamil Nadu’s vibrant fan culture, said Surya. “The fan culture will show up in different ways even if the early morning shows are cancelled. Even for the ‘Kaavala’ song [from Jailer], I am sure people will be dancing in front of the screens. But it will end there and will not harm anyone, which cannot be said about celebrations that happen at the usual early morning shows.”