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Chennai, 05:27 IST — The shutters at Rohini Silver Screens screeched up an hour early. I was still tasting vending-machine coffee when a wave of black-and-white confetti—hand-ripped posters of Rajinikanth from the eighties—rained over my notepad. By 05:31, the first whistle of the day tore through the lobby. Coolie had arrived.
First Reactions from the 4 a.m. Fan Show
Inside Screen 4, the air-con failed at the 20-minute mark. Nobody cared. When the vintage “Super Star” title card flickered—gold font on black velvet—a man in row C performed a full prostration, knocking over my neighbour’s paper cup of filter coffee. The smell of chicory mixed with diesel from the idling generator outside seeped through the exit door.
What Worked in the First Half
- “Hostel fight” already trending: Rajini wields a hostel iron box like a nunchaku.
- Anirudh’s “Disco Disco” drops at the 42-minute mark; theatre roof shook.
- Nagarjuna’s greying beard and tailored suits earn mass whistles every entrance.
Post-Interval Slow-Down or Clever Set-Up?
Harish, 27, software engineer, walked out rubbing his temples: “Second half feels like two scripts stapled together—time-travel jargon plus dad-sentiment montage.” Panjaa, a popular Film-Twitter handle, posted a harsher take: “LoKi drowns you in noise, all those star cameos wasted like chewing gum after the flavour’s gone”.
Yet trade analyst Ramesh Bala’s phone is still buzzing: “Pre-sales for the weekend are tracking 2018 Kaala numbers, but with War 2 splitting screens we’ll know Sunday”.
Box-Office Pulse at Dawn
BookMyShow confirmed 1.8 million tickets sold in the first two hours nationwide; their Telugu servers buckled twice. Prime shows in Hyderabad sold out by 05:45 IST. Single-screen exhibitors in Madurai report 90% occupancy for the 6 a.m. batch—the earliest I’ve seen since Kabali in 2016.
Lokesh’s LCU: Easter Eggs or Red Herrings?
No direct mention of Rolex, Dilli, or Vikram. A blink-and-miss shot of a vintage Rolex Submariner on a dead smuggler’s wrist has the LCU forums spiralling. Lokesh told NDTV after the premiere, “We wanted this to stand alone first; threads can be woven later”.
Critical Split Screen
- The Hindu’s Srinivasa Ramanujam: “A masterclass in fan-service that forgets to age gracefully.”
- Film Companion’s Anupama Chopra (Instagram story): “Rajini’s eyes still do the talking; wish the screenplay did too.”
- @bhargavreddy on X: “Mass-loaded action drama… a fiery entertainer fans will love”.
Forward Look: Can It Cross ₹300 Crore Nett?
Girish Johar, producer and box-office tracker, forecasts ₹180-220 crore lifetime domestic if word-of-mouth stabilises above 3.5/5. War 2’s Hindi belt dominance will dent Mumbai circuits, but the South is “all Rajini territory.”
Conclusion / Takeaway
The projector bulb in Rohini popped at 07:14 a.m., halting the climax for ninety seconds. Instead of boos, the crowd chanted “Thalaiva!”—a reminder that for many, the myth outranks the movie. Whether Coolie ultimately soars or stalls, Thursday’s dawn proved one thing: after half a century, Rajinikanth can still make a city skip its first coffee.
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