Angry Rajnikanth fans went on rampage at more than 10 theatres in Malaysia after the screening of his much-awaited movie “Sivaji – The Boss” was either cancelled or delayed the due to unavailability of the prints.
The mega-budget movie released simultaneously in India and Malaysia yesterday was to start at 9 pm (1900 IST) but was delayed at some cinemas by about six hours and cancelled at others.
Hundreds of angry fans, mostly ethnic Indians, turned violent causing damage to a number of cinemas and police had to be called in at various venues to stop the violence, Star newspaper said.
Fans had queued up hours in advance at movie halls across the country to buy tickets for the 80 crore-budget Tamil film.
Chennai-based AVM, the producers of the movie, had reportedly sent only 42 prints instead of the scheduled 53 and the rest had to be unloaded from the internet, reports said.
In Penang, police had to be called to control the situation as fans turned unruly at the delay in screening the movie.
In Klang’s Sri Intan theatre, fans who had waited more than five hours for the movie to start, wrecked the cinema lobby, breaking ticket counters and set fire to part of the theatre, which was put out by workers.
The theatre has suspended shows to carry out repair works. The damage has been estimated at more than Rs. 7 lakhs.
In Rawang, fistfights broke out, and people threw bottles, breaking glass showcases, while in the northern city of Ipoh, a cinema manager was beaten up by irate fans.
He suffered head injuries which required stitches, the paper said.
Police arrested several people but released them later.
Tickets for the film, directed by Shankar and featuring music by A R Rahman, were sold out for the next couple of days.
About 10 per cent of Malaysia’s 26 million people are ethnic Indians mostly from Tamil Nadu. ource:Hindu
