• Chennai/Hyderabad/Thiruvanathapuram/New Delhi, June 15 (IANS) It was Rajni mania everywhere Friday with masses across south India standing in serpentine queues to get a ticket for the Tamil superstar's latest release "Sivaji: the Boss", the most expensive film ever made in India.
  
  Whether it was Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram or Hyderabad, scenes outside theatres were the same - people queuing up since the wee hours of the morning, determined not to miss a "first day first show' of the long awaited film from a man who is hailed as one of the country's top showbiz superstars.
  
  Politicians, film stars and fans in Delhi too didn't miss the opportunity to catch the long-awaited movie made with a whopping budget of over Rs.600 million ($15 million). There were even special screenings for VIPs like Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.
  
  The popularity of Rajnikant, one of India's highest paid actors, is often compared to Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan. Asked whether he wanted to be called the king of Indian cinema, he said with humility: "I am the king, but Amitabh Bachchan is the emperor."
  
  Inside packed theatres in Chennai, audiences watched the film - Rajni's first after two years - in rapt silence, in contrast to the wild cheering, dancing and sloganeering witnessed outside earlier.
  
  "I have only two words to describe 'Sivaji'- success, spectacular", said Vishwanathan, a driver who spent nearly 30 percent of his monthly salary to watch the preview Thursday night.
  
  According to Rajni, the film's message to society was that black money bred more grudge, jealousy, greed and grief. The story is about Sivaji, a successful computer nerd who returns from the US to distribute his wealth amongst the poor in his home state of Tamil Nadu.
  
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  He turns to blackmail to unearth unimaginable sums of black money by using a mere one rupee and the help of a wisecracking uncle.
  
  But the movie, ironically, has not deterred black marketers from selling tickets for exorbitant prices. "Sivaji" is commanding a whopping Rs.1,500 per ticket in the black market in most south Indian cities.
  
  "I am a diehard Rajnikant fan and the movie is worth every single paisa of the Rs.1,000 I spent to see the first show," said Dayalan, who owns a travel business in Chennai.
  
  And moviegoers want to see the much-hyped film not once but several times over.
  
  Rajni, the hero who sports perhaps a record number of hairdos in the much-hyped film, would seem to have met every expectation from every section of his wide ranging audience. He is hugely popular even in South-East and East Asia, particularly in Japan.
  
  While Tamil Nadu Chief Minister saw a special screening Monday, AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalitha caught the film on the first day of its release - a move seen as a reconciliation of sorts between Rajnikant and her.
  
  The national capital wasn't far behind. Tickets for "Sivaji" were sold out till Wednesday at PVR multiplex, said Shalu Sabharwal, vice president (sales and marketing), of PVR, India.
  
  "We opened booking only on Thursday and all tickets were sold out on the first day itself."
  
  "Sivaji" ran to packed houses despite "Jhoom Barabar Jhoom", a much-anticipated multi-starrer by Shaad Ali, releasing on the same day.
  
  Sabharwal couldn't contain her surprise when she said, "After seeing the film, people are queuing up again to buy tickets for the next available show. We think it'll be a huge hit in north India.
  
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  "People are clapping and cheering inside the halls. The audience reaction is phenomenal," she added.
  
  In Andhra Pradesh, the Telugu version of the film was released in 300 theatres with tickets being booked for the next 15 days in all cinema halls.
  
  The film distributors of Andhra Pradesh have bought the movie's rights for a whopping Rs.180 million for the first round of three weeks, breaking the record of Telugu mega star Chiranjeevi's films.
  
  Rajnikant had watched the preview of "Sivaji" with former Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Telugu Desam Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu in Hyderabad Thursday - keeping a promise he had made to the politician.
  
  Many cinema halls in Kerala also saw ticket seekers lining up - but from the previous night itself.
  
  Malayalam superstar Mammootty also watched the film a day earlier. While praising the 57-year-old Rajnikant's acting skills, he said the actor "did not have to be starry because a halo follows him."
  
  Rajni's massive following in Tamil Nadu had marked the run-up to the film's release with crazy welcome-back shows. These included ceremonies like 'pal avishekam' (milk bath) on Rajni's cardboard cutouts.
  
  Many delirious fans in Kerala too had taken out Rajni processions in various cities.