Camp Vijay: Time to Celebrate
Mohammad Ashiq is busy creating a hashtag for an upcoming Tamil film. to Varis. He hopes to create a film that will go viral among ‘Thalapathy’ Vijay’s fans, who are all excited to see their idol on the big screen this Wednesday.
This 26-year-old, who works for a production company, manages not one or two, but… four Active fan clubs on Twitter celebrating Vijay include act_vijay, a fan account with over a million followers.
This Wednesday, Ashiq plans to visit two theaters in Chennai – Rohini and Vettri – to watch Vijay’s play. to Varis for three concerts… and all in one day! Along with him will be a large gang of Vijay fans who will declare their love for the star online. “This is a special Pongal festival for us,” says Ashique. “While we have celebrated Vijay’s releases with great pleasure in previous years, this year will be the biggest of all as it is a direct clash with Ajith’s releases. Tunivu“
Watch | Vijay’s Warisu vs Ajith’s Thuniv: Why Tamil Cinema Fans Are Excited
With memes, trolls and social media fanfare, it’s the biggest event in Tamil cinema in recent times and will set the stage for what 2023 will be like in cinema. The rivalry between Ajith and Vijay’s fans is one of the most talked about topics in Tamil cinema, and it’s not every day that their films release on the same day: the last time such an event happened was in January 2014 when Vijay Jilla took over Ajit Viram.
Kancheepuram-based Ramkumar R, an ardent Vijay fan who proudly declares his love for the actor on his social media page, remembers this period well. “But things are different now. Since then, Vijay’s popularity has skyrocketed and we are looking forward to this film,” says Ramkumar, 30, a mobile phone shop owner.
Vijay in the Tamil film Warisu
He will hold his usual date with Vijay fans at the Babu Theater in Kancheepuram, which will be festively decorated to celebrate the film’s release. However, he does not consider the release of “Varisu v/s Thunivu” to be a “conflict”. “It’s just healthy competition,” says Ramkumar, who has been a fan of Vijay since his 2004 superhit. Gilly.
For theater owners, if the two films had released on different dates, the box office collection could have been higher, says Rakesh Gauthaman of Chromepet-based Vettri Theatres. “Although we usually prefer to have a big star movie and a second tier movie released together on a long holiday weekend so we can balance the number of screenings and inventory. Tunivu And to Varis“Even though the release date is way ahead of Pongal, the buzz is huge,” he says.
Like most theaters in the city, Vettri has already sold out tickets to show both the films from Wednesday to Sunday (Pongal day) on advance booking only – a phenomenon he has never seen before. “This is a great sign. Also, there will be holidays next week instead of ‘Maatu Pongal’ and ‘Kaanum Pongal’. If the content of these films is even average, the box office collection will be excellent.”
We are not yet sure whether the hashtag #Thalapathyloading or #AKloading will trend. But we are sure that this Pongal it is #Entertainmentloading for Tamil cinema lovers.
Camp Ajit: a bond for life
In Vellore, 38-year-old assistant bank manager and part-time singer T Dhanasekar along with his friend, composer Aandhageethan, are releasing a cover version of the song “Chilla Chilla” from the album Tunivu on your YouTube channel. Two things about TunivuThe film’s director H Vinoth seems to have piqued the interest of this ardent Ajith fan: Ajith Kumar’s look and his bank robbery scenes.
“Vera maari stylish, ah irukaarAjit (He looks so stylish). After Mankata (2011), now I can’t wait to see how he pulls off the heist this time,” says Dhana. For Dina Shankar, a Madurai-based businessman and fan who runs Ajith’s online Twitter account with over 20 thousand followers, the gray shades of the character are what intrigued him. “We are seeing him in a negative role after Mankata (2011), which became a special film for all of us,” notes Dina.
It will be interesting to gauge the fans’ reaction to Ajith’s choice of film. For example, Ajith is acting in a film like Nerkonda Paarvai after Vishwasamand in Tunivuhe plays a bank robber after playing a cop in his earlier film Valimai. “Rajinikanth sir has built his career by playing such negative roles. Even after establishing himself as a hero, he played Nethrikkan. And Ajith is following that path; he just wants to be an actor and does whatever the character requires of him,” says film producer Dhananjayan, adding that films in which Ajith has played a character with shades of gray e.g. Vaali, Villain, Bill, Varalaaruand so on, were a huge success.
Ajith in the Tamil film Thunivu
Ajith is also unique considering how detached he is from his films, despite the current trend of production houses focusing on aggressive promotion and marketing. The actor has been somewhat of a recluse for over a decade, but fans seem content to simply watch his films.
“Since we don’t often see him at public appearances, fans are more willing to watch the film. And even though we see him only on screen, he manages to connect with the audience simply by being who he is as a person. This is a unique aspect of Ajith,” says Manoj Kumar P, a Chennai-based advocate and an ardent fan of Ajith.
Dhananjayan, however, believes Ajith needs to take another look at this approach. “It worked for a film like Vishwasambut the market reaction changes every year. The market now needs promotion. If Ajith sir promotes a film, even an average film will do well,” he says.
Fans unanimously agreed that Tunivu much more hyped than Ajith’s previous film,Valimaiwhich was released after many delays due to the pandemic. The main reason for this is that it is releasing on the same day as Vijay’s film. to Varis. Dhananjayan compares it to the India-Pakistan cricket match and says such a competition will be good for trade too. “There is a reason why more people watch India-Pakistan matches. You wouldn’t have seen such a craze in booking tickets if only one film had been released,” he adds.
Manoj says there were exchanges between fan groups, which only added to the excitement. “If we organize a trailer celebration, they (Vijay’s fans) will organize a similar event when their trailer releases and vice versa.” Manoj has been involved in the one-upmanship drama for a while now; For the past ten years, he has been heading the unofficial fan club Thalainagaram Ajith Fans. The club has 30 active members and regularly attracts an average of over 500 people to their events.
The group is currently gearing up for a DJ night at the Rohini Silverscreen premises in Chennai on the opening night. Tuniva. This Pongal, the applause in cinemas has become even louder.