Big crowds thronged the country's cinema halls where Indian blockbuster film Kabali was released on Thursday.
The Tamil film in which superstar Rajinikanth is playing the lead character was shown at no less than 12 screens across the country on the opening day. The screens together had more than 35 shows on the first day.
Apart from the film lovers among the Indian expatriates, a number of people from Sri Lanka and Malaysia are also ardent followers of Rajinikanth.
Fans who were eagerly waiting for the film's release flocked to the complexes long before its scheduled start, sources at different cinema halls told this newspaper.
Besides the film buffs who had booked their seats in advance, several Rajini fans were seen hanging around ticket counters, exploring the possibility of getting a ticket to see the movie that had created such an expectation, with critics suggesting there has never been such a hype surrounding the release of a movie.



Film lovers hang around the Asian Cinema complex.

Inquiries made with the cinema operators found that even the shows starting at 3am Friday at the Asian Cinema near the Industrial Area had been fully booked. The four halls at the Asian Cinema together can accommodate 2,000 spectators at a time.
Apart from the City Center Doha and Asian Cinema, which together had 22 shows on the opening day, the film was also screened at the multiplexes at the Villaggio, Al Khor Mall, Novo cinemas in Pearl-Qatar and Ain Khalid, and The Mall cinema among others.
Friday's shows are also almost fully booked, sources at Asian Cinema and City Center Doha said. Qatar Bahrain Cinema Company is operating cinemas at both the places besides the Al Khor Mall.
According to the Indian media, such fan worship was never seen even in the heyday of great actors like MG Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan and Gemini Ganesh. "Even someone like NT Rama Rao in Andhra Pradesh -- who often donned the role of mythical figures like Rama and Krishna -- could not attract such popular adulation."