New Delhi: Any price is a good price for a ticket to Rajinikanth's new movie Sivaji the Boss at theatres across Tamil Nadu and even in Bangalore this week. There was madness on Friday as the movie hit the theatres. And as the mad rush began to the theatres, the ticket prices soured to unheard-of levels.
In Chennai, for instance, tickets for all shows for the first 10 days were sold out in just two hours in over in all the 15 screens where the film has been released. Now, there are no tickets available until June-end. Those ready to pay a premium on the ticket are buying them for as high as Rs 1,900 or more per ticket.
While the maniacal response in Tamil Nadu is understandable considering the hype and emotions attached to Rajini's comeback film, what came as a big surprise was the way the film caught the fancy of silicon valley in Bangalore.
In Bangalore, the Telugu version of the movie was released in 13 screens, including three multiplexes. And guess what: it's the techies who went for the bulk of ticket bookings for the first few shows of the movie. And nobody seems to be minding the premium they were paying for the tickets.
An IBNlive reader from Bangalore sent us a receipt, which shows an IT firm booked one entire theatre for Friday's second show at Innovative Multiplex, Bangalore, paying as high as Rs 903 per ticket. The total amount paid for 75 gold class tickets is shown to be Rs 67,751. The firm also booked 240 silver class tickets. In fact, the theatre saw a beeline of corporate guys and single-friends networks on the first day of the movie.
In Chennai's popular six-screen multiplex Mayajal too, all the 27 shows of Sivaji everyday for the first week-end were booked in bulk by employee-groups of Cognizant, Virtusa and ICICI among others.
As tickets for the movie have become exhausted, a virtual auction for Sivaji tickets has begun even on the Net. "A ticket for Sivaji movie is available in Chennai. Interested quote your buying price within 2 days," says an auction ad on a prominent website.
"A ticket for Sivaji movie is available in Bangalore, interested quote buying price within a week," goes another.
Similar rush was reported even in Australia and New Zealand, to Malaysia and Singapore, and then on to Europe and further west to the US and Canada
In Malaysia and Singapore, long queues were witnessed as eager fans rushed early in the morning to book tickets. In Australia and New Zealand, tickets for Sivaji have been priced double of the normal charge for a Tamil movie. In the US, too, where a fair number of techies are gearing up to celebrate their superstar’s new release with special premiers in Detroit and Imax shows in Indianapolis, the ticket prices for Sivaji reportedly zoomed to $25.
"We purchased some tickets for Tamil movie Sivaji for the premier show. But, unfortunately two of our friends will not be able to make it. So if anybody is looking for tickets, please contact me at XYZWYZ. Will give you the tickets for the same price I purchased ($25 each)," says a message on the on a community portal.
(The figures for the Rs 67,751 show were sent to us by an IBNLive.com reader)
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