Once we entered theatre, I found about 10 die hard fans in Rajini T-Shirts and again I'm attaching pictures here. I met fans who drove for 4 to5 hours from neighboring states West Virginia and far off places from Virginia, Maryland to have a glimpse of the BOSS.

I was hearing stories of people coming in at 5pm for 8pm show to block seats. We were lucky enough to get a back seat from a friend who went in at 5pm. Theatre was full by 7.30 and I'm attaching audience picture. Some of them started whistling at 7.30pm and it lasted till 11.30 when the movie ended. Some elder people were mentioning that their ears were getting affected by the whistle from the surroundings.

When the count down started at 7.58 and when it touched 8pm, the noise decibel reached its peak. "Thalaivaa Thalaivaa" and first came the trailor of Sultan, Rajini animated movie. Then came the movie and we saw Papers flying, Popcorn flying, and whistles, claps, sound everywhere.

When Thalaivar's face was shown for the first time and for the Ballelaka, Athiradee, Style songs – some of the fans went like a train to the front of screen and started dancing. For most of the scenes like "Naan singamda" "Chumma athirudhulla" "Mottai rajini scenes" applause reached its peak. We kept hearing whistles, sounds, Thalaivaa etc. Vivek, Suman, Shriya, Nayanthara, Solomon Pappiah, Raja, ARR, Sujatha, Thotta tharani, Peter Hain,KV Anand everyone have done their part well. It was a grand movie.

Sets for Vaaji, Sahana were absolutely stunning. Style, Athiradi – these type of songs we have never seen before in Thalaivar movies. Some of the concepts were newly introduced by Shankar.

Overall audience verdict from Washington DC: Movie is going to be big block buster and sure hit. None of the audience left the theatre during songs or fight or any part of the movie. Particularly after the interval, the audience were tied to their seats with movie going in jet pace.

First time in the history of Washington DC, both tamil and telugu versions are running simultaneously for 1 week and movie is sold out for the weekend. By looking at the response, the movie might extend or will be released again in couple of weeks.

When we walked out – some fans were mentioning – do we need to wait another couple of years for this kind of festival, celebration. Rajini movies are a special occasion in all parts of the world where Tamilians live.

dhivya shan
Email: <dhivyashan@yahoo.com>

If you want to become our special correspondents and update us on happenings at other areas, send us news articles with your contact information to behindw@behindwoods.com