Friday brought double delight for diehard Rajinikanth fans. Not only was it their superstar’s 64th birthday, celebrated enthusiastically with cakes and sweets, but his latest flick Lingaa too hit the screens.

It was the release of a live-action Rajini film after four long years. (His Kochadaiyaan , released earlier this year, was an animated film.)

There were drums and dances as his fans thronged the theatres. His larger-than-life-size hoardings — where Rajini does look rather young in his maroon tuxedo — were bathed in milk.

Besides Rajinikanth in a dual role, the over ₹100-crore film, directed by KS Ravikumar, has an impressive star cast that includes Sonakshi Sinha and Anushka Shetty, with music by AR Rahman.

Lingaa has had its share of legal wrangles with another film director claiming the story to be his. On Thursday, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court cleared the film’s release after the producer agreed to deposit ₹10 crore as guarantee. It further issued a directive to the petitioner to approach the civil court.

Lingaa , in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi, has been released in over 3,000 screens globally. The worldwide rights of the movie, produced by Rockline Venkatesh, have been acquired by Eros International.

S Madan, CEO of Vendhar Movies, which has acquired the movie rights for Tamil Nadu and Kerala for ₹70 crore, is rather bullish. “We are releasing it in more than 600 screens in Tamil Nadu and close to 250 screens in Kerala,” he said.

There are sceptics who wonder if Rajinikanth will continue to enjoy the kind of clout at the box office that he has been doing for the past several decades.

But, going by the rave reviews on social media and the first-day response across theatres, the movie is expected to bring in at least ₹300-350 crore.

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