tholaiththavan: June 2007

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

லிட்டில் ராக்கை தாக்கிய சிவாஜி...

I'm writing on behalf of all the Rajini fans in the home town of the former president Bill Clinton – Little Rock, Arkansas. Tamil Population in this small town is very less and it is challenging to run a Tamil movie in local theatre, but we die-hard fans determined to bring this mega budgeted SIVAJI movie and started planning ahead at least by 40days in prior to draw the entire possible crowd in our unique way of marketing.

Mr. Ulaganathan an experienced distributor for Tamil movies in our hometown is the key to bring Sivaji within 3 days (18th June 2007) from the date of release. But we could not control our nerve, after hearing the news that our neighboring state 'Tennessee' is running the movie on 14th June 2007 (Tamil). So we decided to watch the preview show in Memphis, TN. The hours we needed to commute didn't deter us as our conversations were filled with either pre-show excitement or post-show discussions. After watching the movie our quotations were 'Awesome, Superb, Fantastic, Wonderful, Marvelous, Extremely Sauvé and Stylish. Which word would be appropriate? We think all of them, and it was an absolute treat to get a chance to be one of the first to watch this great movie!

Our excitement and feelings started growing on thinking that 'We will be watching it AGAIN in our hometown'. On a Stormy Gusty day with all the hurdles we faced, we could only screen the first show at 11:00P.M. (Schedule to screen at 6:30P.M. Monday 18th June) But….

All the Families including Elders and Kids waited patiently and watched the movie until 3A.M. in spite of being a working day. "The response was huge", at the end a 4yr old boy mimicked BOSS punch line 'Chumma Pera Ketta Athirudhulla'…Rajni style influences him to do this. First time we went online. People from neighboring states like Texas, Missouri, Tennessee and our hometown fans got the publicity from your site and propelled us to screen the movie next day. We screened the movie Tuesday 19th June at 6:30 P.M. and some of us watched the movie for the second time. 'Where no other fan would have this great opportunity to enjoy this movie 2 times in just 24 hrs

Sunday, June 17, 2007

நாங்க நாளைக்கு போட போகிற சிவாஜியை பற்றி CNN-IBNல சொல்லி இருக்காங்க...

Rajini's Sivaji mania grips US
Indira Kannan
CNN-IBN
Posted Friday , June 15, 2007 at 12:33
Updated Friday , June 15, 2007 at 14:09

ROYAL TREATMENT: Indian fans in US will experience a special connection to the film Sivaji

New York: Rajinikanth's new film Sivaji is getting the royal treatment in the US. The distributor has brought double the number of prints compared to his previous starrer Chandramukhi.
Tickets for the opening weekend were sold out in key markets like New Jersey and the San Francisco Bay Area, a week before the release.

Indian fans in the US will experience a special connection to the film as parts of it were shot in New York. One of the locations in New York where Rajinikanth filmed a few scenes for his latest film Sivaji is a block near Wall Street in downtown Manhattan.

After working with the superstar on his New York schedule, US line producer Tirlok Malik and American actor Joe Amato found themselves joining the ranks of Rajinikanth's fans.

Trilok Malik says," We were shooting at the airport and we needed to change his costume. So I asked him, Sir should I get you a room? He says No don't worry. He went behind the van and changed his clothes. And I was truly in awe and amazed that's like independent filmmaking - he was amazing."

“They wanted to have an area of Wall Street, New York City where they could show the skyline of New York City, and some very dramatic buildings, the airport, things like that,” he adds. Sivaji opens in 24 theatres across the US this week, adding 19 more in the next couple of weeks, in locations ranging from New York, New Jersey and the San Francisco Bay Area to smaller cities like Little Rock, Arkansas and Madison, Wisconsin.

"I'd never heard of him before, I'd never done a Bollywood film before. But since then every time I ask somebody who's from India or south east Asia, when I ask them about him, they get all excited and light up and they say Oh yes, yes, yes, you know him? I go, well, I worked with him for a couple of days and he's a very nice man, and they get very excited." says Joe Amato.

Sivaji opens in 21 theatres. Eager Rajinikanth fans in America are already snapping up tickets and shows are sold out for the first few days in many markets. Sivaji is now all set to make waves in the US.