CHENNAI: Private companies declared a holiday and parents kept children out of school as an air of celebration swept southern India Friday for the premiere of Indian superstar Rajinikanth’s latest film.
Hundreds of thousands of Rajinikanth fans thronged cinemas across Tamil-language India and Malaysia to catch the pre-dawn showing of “Kabali,” a gangster movie that left patrons jumping from their seats and dancing in the aisles at the sight of their hero.
Crowds waited outside theaters all night before the first showing, and in Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu state, Rajinikanth enthusiasts burst firecrackers and distributed sweets outside cinemas.
Inside the Woodlands theater, one of the city’s oldest, fans rose to their feet, danced and sang along as the superstar made his first appearance. When Rajnikanth landed punches on the villain in the two-hour-long film, he was egged on with cheers and whistles.
Huge cutouts of the star and gigantic posters loomed large in the street outside the theater. In several places, fans poured big cans of milk over the cutouts in a Hindu ritual to bless the star and wish him a long life.
Sixty-five-year-old Rajinikanth is one of India’s most popular stars and counts millions of fans who speak the Tamil language and even those who don’t.
The film, also starring Taiwanese actor Winston Chao, was shot in Malaysia and southern India.
“Kabali” is being released in more than 12,000 screens across India, as well as in the UK and Malaysia, which has a sizeable Tamil-speaking population and millions of Rajinikanth fans. It also premiered in 400 US theaters. Rajinikanth and fans attended a special screening in San Francisco.
The action star has a huge following in Japan too, where his subtitled films are big box office earners.
For Alandur P. Sridhar, an insurance company employee, the long wait for his hero’s new film is over.
“I’ve been waiting since two years for this film,” said Sridhar, who came to watch the film in a group of 30 fans, all dressed in identical white T-shirts with Rajinikanth’s picture on the chest.
Bollywood fans revel in Rajinikanth film
Bollywood fans revel in Rajinikanth film
Fans bid farewell to Japan’s only pandas
TOKYO: Panda lovers in Tokyo said goodbye on Sunday to a hugely popular pair of the bears that are set to return to China, leaving Japan without the beloved animals for the first time in half a century.
Loaned out as part of China’s “panda diplomacy” program, the distinctive black-and-white animals have symbolized friendship between Beijing and Tokyo since the normalization of diplomatic ties in 1972.
Some visitors at Ueno Zoological Gardens were left teary-eyed as they watched Japan’s only two pandas Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao munch on bamboo.
The animals are expected to leave for China on Tuesday following a souring of relations between Asia’s two largest economies.
“I feel like seeing pandas can help create a connection with China too, so in that sense I really would like pandas to come back to Japan again,” said Gen Takahashi, 39, a Tokyo resident who visited the zoo with his wife and their two-year-old daughter.
“Kids love pandas as well, so if we could see them with our own eyes in Japan, I’d definitely want to go.”
The pandas’ abrupt return was announced last month after Japan’s conservative premier Sanae Takaichi hinted Tokyo could intervene militarily in the event of any attack on Taiwan.
Her comment provoked the ire of Beijing, which regards the island as its own territory.
The 4,400 lucky winners of an online lottery took turns viewing the four-year-old twins at Ueno zoo while others gathered nearby, many sporting panda-themed shirts, bags and dolls to celebrate the moment.
Mayuko Sumida traveled several hours from the central Aichi region in the hope of seeing them despite not winning the lottery.
“Even though it’s so big, its movements are really funny-sometimes it even acts kind of like a person,” she said, adding that she was “totally hooked.”
“Japan’s going to be left with zero pandas. It feels kind of sad,” she said.
Their departure might not be politically motivated, but if pandas return to Japan in the future it would symbolize warming relations, said Masaki Ienaga, a professor at Tokyo Woman’s Christian University and expert in East Asian international relations.
“In the future...if there are intentions of improving bilateral ties on both sides, it’s possible that (the return of) pandas will be on the table,” he told AFP.
