Chasing the Rajinikanth frenzy: 'Kabali' and the surreal First Day First Show experience

T minus 12 hours
Nothing yet. Radio silence on my Whatsapp. I go from one Whatsapp group to another, secretly praying to every God on the planet. Heck, at that point, I was ready to even pray to my chair, my laptop and even the neighbour’s cat, if that would make those four magical words appear on my phone - 'I have extra tickets.'

T minus 11 hours
Nothing. Repeat.

T minus 10 hours
The peer pressure is just too much to handle. Kids born in the mid-90s (NINETIES for crying out loud!) are putting up status messages with their copies of First Day First Show (FDFS) tickets. Dei, you were not even born when I was watching Baasha in theatres! I hate this world. I have useless friends. It also doesn't help if you have put your school and college friends' Whatsapp groups on permanent mute. No one wants to help you.

T minus 9 hours
Ok God, I am ready to give up all my arrogance and ego. Never sin again in my life. I will break a coconut. Please. Ok make that two (I need two tickets.) Please.

T minus 8 hours
Ping. A friend of a friend who is friends with a friend who is part of a fan-club, MAY have two tickets. Please standby for confirmation.

T minus 7 hours and 40 minutes.
Waiting. Nerves.

T minus 7 hours and 30 minutes.
The magic words appear on my screen. 'Two tkts. Celebrations begin 2.30 am. See you.' HALLELUJAH! I love this world. I love my friends. Oh my God I cannot believe this is happening. I look at the clock. It’s dinner time. Dinner? What dinner? I don't think I'll be hungry ever again.

T minus 7 hours and 29 minutes.
Hungry. Better eat something now. 

T minus 6 hours.
My wife and I are still talking about how surreal this feels. To be actually watching a FDFS of a Rajinikanth movie. Let me say that again. A FDFS of a Rajinikanth movie! Whatsapp is my new God. Staircases are beautiful. I love my alarm clock. Ok I am saying random things now because, excitement yaar! Lights off. Let's get some sleep.

T minus 5 hours and 50 minutes.
Is it time? I switch on the light. 'Shut up and sleep', says the wife. I comply.

T minus 3 hours.
I wake up to pee. I am wide awake. Should I just stay awake till it's time? I check Twitter. There are rumours about the 4.15 am shows being cancelled because of some government order. I hate Twitter. I refresh the page. They are rumours. The 4.15 am shows will go on as planned. There are many restless souls like me. We do a virtual group hug. I love Twitter.

T minus 1 hour and 30 minutes
The alarm goes off. I wake up with a jolt at the first ring. It's Kabali! (Kabali, Deepavali...get it?) I take a quick bath. We are ready. We step out of the house. The neighbours are sleeping. (Duh!) I gingerly kickstart my bike. He starts on the first kick. He knows I am going on a mission. We head out.

T minus 50 minutes
I have never ever stepped out of the house this early. Like, literally never. We ride in silence, lost in thought. I hit a red light. I wait. As I wait, another bike pulls up with two guys wearing Rajinikanth T-Shirts. I look at them. They look at me. I smile. They smile. We understand. The light turns green.

T minus 40 minutes
As I get closer, I hear drum beats. We reach the theatre. It's madness. There are about a thousand people standing inside the complex. Most of them are wearing a Rajinikanth T shirt. I hear whistles. Someone lets off 1000-wala crackers. Crackling noises. Some guys are doing a kuthu dance. Huge Rajinikanth hoardings are staring down at us from every direction. This is the largest open house party in Chennai I have seen. I honk my way into the parking lot.

T minus 30 minutes
I park my bike and head back. I become a part of the crowd. I see many familiar faces. Loud hello’s. High fives. The drum beats get louder. The whistles are going nonstop. The customary 'Haehaehaehae' shouts by guys standing in a circle. Pushes and shoves. I look for my contact. There he is. He is waving two tickets at me. But there is a galaxy of people separating us. I wriggle my way, grab the tickets with glee. I wave them at the usher. He lifts the crowd controller rope and lets us in.

T minus 20 minutes
We are in our seats. The crowd starts trickling in. As friends bump into each other, I can hear them go 'Machaaaaaan!' Animated talk. Surreal anticipation in the air.

T minus 10 minutes
Restless. We run out of things to talk about. Nobody wants to talk now. People are swarming into the hall. The buzz is getting louder by the minute.

T minus 5 minutes
Waiting.

T minus 2 minutes
The lights start going out, one by one. The crowd goes crazy. Screams of delight.

T minus 1 minute
The censor certificate appears on screen. Title - KABALI. The theatre explodes with noise. I whistle and hoot like I have never before.

T minus 30 seconds
The statutory smoking and alcohol warning message gets its loudest welcome cheer ever in the country. Whistles. Screams. Claps. More screams.

T minus 10 seconds
The crowd is berserk now. My vocal cords have been mutilated. This is it. This is the moment I have been waiting for, you could say, all my life. My First Day First Show experience of a Rajinikanth movie.

T minus zero
The letters S-U-P-E-R-S-T-A-R light up on the screen. Everyone gets up from their seats, screaming. Waving. Whistling. Hooting. Howling. Confetti flies. Nothing else in the world matters now. This moment of joy. Pure unadulterated mad joy. I cannot hear a thing. 
My mind goes blank.

P.S. I am just a privileged, lucky man with friends who had friends to help me pull this off. All it took were some Whatsapp messages and a few phone calls. I cannot imagine the experience of a fan who stands in line for hours, just to feel alive for these few moments. I will never be him. More power to him, the true Rajinikanth fan.

Balajee GE is a part time blogger and an aspiring screenwriter from Chennai. He has staged short plays and has written the Tamil webseries Ctrl Alt Del. He blogs at thelocalteaparty.com