In an unusual turn of events, several Chennai and Bengaluru companies have declared 22 July as holiday. The reason is self-evident. That is the day Kabali, the latest Rajnikanth starrer, is set to release. According to reports, the holiday was declared to preempt employees from taking sick-leave or absenting themselves otherwise from work on that day.
Declaring the release date of a film as a holiday is unprecedented even in a movie mad country like India. But that is the magic of Thalaivar. Not only is he a superstar, to his legions of fans he is no less than divinity.
Manoj Pushparaj of Opus Waterproofing, one of the companies that has declared a holiday, told Hindustan Times "This was an internal company circulation which was sent out on Sunday. I could feel the eagerness in my employees, so instead of dealing with mass bunks and mobile switch offs, I came up with the idea of declaring a holiday on July 22 and be a part of the celebration. It would also serve as a motivation to my employees. Like Diwali bonus, we treated them to Kabali bonus."
Chennai based Fyndus India Pvt. Ltd. has also declared 22 July as a holiday. After they were notified, some employees went on Twitter:
Tamil film personality Dhanush, who is married to Rajnikanth's daughter, summed the situation perfectly in his tweet:
The more pressing concern now for all those with the day off is to lay their hands on Kabali first day tickets. Good luck with that!