Kabali Catches Houston by Storm
By Vanshika Vipin
HOUSTON: Houston saw some action from a frenzied crowd, last week. The occasion was the release of Kabali, the latest film starring the SuperStar Rajnikant. Die-hard Thalaiva fans had queued outside theatres to watch their beloved larger-than-life star. To many, Rajnikant is not just an actor or a SuperStar; he is a Phenomenon. And it has been a while since his fans have seen Rajni appear in a Don avatar. Kabali teasers had stormed all across the globe and become a rage.
On the evening of last Thursday, July 21, Houston Desi Friends, US Desi Gals, along with Sridhar Dadi of Radio Hungama, organised a ‘Kabali Houston Flashmob’ at CarmikeYorktown. Houston Desi Friends and US Desi Gals are two unique WhatsApp groups in Houston, serving as a platform to share information on events, deals, job opportunities, motivating people to adopt a healthier lifestyle and many more. Houston Desi Friends, the brainchild of Kishore Ramaraju was founded in November 2014 and has over 3000 members on WhatsApp and Facebook. The motto of this group is to bring together all Indians in Houston on a common platform. This non-profit group conducts seminars on immigration, finance, digital marketing, and college education on a monthly basis. US Desi Gals is a WhatsApp group founded by Kavitha Vijay. The mission of this group is to serve as a platform for the Indian women community and share information on deals and events, in and around Houston.
The response to Kabali Houston Flashmob was so phenomenal that several hundreds of Thalaiva fans had gathered to bring out the Rajni in them. The event was sponsored by Umang Mehta of Deep Foods, Cinegalaxy Inc and Fun Asia, Carmike Theatres, Radio Hungama, Hot Breads Houston, United Real Estates, Pepon Inc., TV9 & NTV. To stay true to the ‘festive’ spirit of a Rajni movie, the hosts had ensured that the program had all it takes to create a memorable experience. There were fun games and contests sweepstakes where some of the lucky Thalaiva fans won Kabali merchandises like T-shirts and gift hampers from Deep Foods. The stunning act of the evening was a dance performance by the members of US DESI GALS dance team, who swayed to the tunes of some famous Rajni songs. The dance, well choreographed in a short notice of time, was performed by a troupe who inspite of not being professional dancers have a tremendous passion for dancing. With so much of excitement in the air, some Thalaiva fans also boogied, swirled and shimmered to the tunes of “Neruppu da”, along with this dance team. Sridhar Dadi, owner of Radio Hungama enthralled the whole crowd with his witty eloquent. A Delicious Kabali theme cake was designed specially for this event by Hot breads Houston and the event ended by the cake cutting ceremony and an open flash mob.
The experience was truly earth shattering for the SuperStar’s fans in Houston and as far the reviews for the movie, so far it has broken all records at the box-office.