Watch | Vijay’s ‘Varisu’ takes on Ajith’s ‘Thunivu’: Why Tamil cinema fans are excited

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Mohammad Ashik is busy creating a hashtag for the upcoming Tamil film Varisu . He hopes to create one that goes viral among fans of ‘Thalapathy’ Vijay, all excited about seeing their matinee idol on the big screen this Wednesday.

This 26-year-old, who works at a production company, manages not one or two, but four active Twitter fan clubs celebrating Vijay: among them is the handle actor_vijay, a fans’ account that enjoys more than a million followers.

This Wednesday, Ashik plans to be at two Chennai theatres – Rohini and Vettri – to watch Vijay’s Varisu for three shows... all on a single day! With him will be a big gang of Vijay fans, who profess their love for the star online. “This is a very special Pongal festival for us,” says Ashik, “While we have celebrated the release of Vijay’s releases in earlier years with a lot of gusto, this year will be the biggest of them all: as it is a direct clash with Ajith’s Thunivu .”

With memes, trolls and social media fanfare, this is the biggest event in Tamil cinema in recent times, something that will set the ball rolling for how 2023 will pan out in the movies. The rivalry among Ajith-Vijay fans is among Tamil cinema’s most-discussed topics, and it’s not every day that their films release on the exact same day: the last time such an event unfolded was during January 2014 when Vijay’s Jilla took on Ajith’s Veeram .

Kancheepuram-based Ramkumar R, an ardent Vijay fan who proudly professes his love for the actor on his social media page, remembers that phase vividly. “But things are different now. Vijay’s popularity has soared since then, and we are looking forward to this film,” says Ramkumar, 30, who runs a mobile phone shop.

He will keep his regular date with Vijay fans at Kancheepuram’s Babu Theatre, which will be festively decorated to celebrate the film. However, he doesn’t view the ‘Varisu v/s Thunivu’ release as a “clash”. “It’s just healthy competition,” says Ramkumar, who has been a fan of Vijay since the release of his super hit 2004 flick Ghilli.

For theatre owners, if these two films had released on different dates, the box-office collections might have been higher, says Rakesh Gowthaman of Vettri Theatres, located at Chromepet. “While we usually prefer a big-star film and a second-tier film to be released together on a festive long weekend so that we can balance the number of shows and inventory. In the case of Thunivu and Varisu , despite having a release date way ahead of Pongal, the buzz is tremendous,” he says.

Like most city theatres, Vettri too has already sold out shows for both films from Wednesday till Sunday (Pongal day) in advance bookings alone — a phenomenon it has never seen to date. “It’s a great sign. Also, there are more holidays next week in lieu of Maatu Pongal and Kaanum Pongal. If the content of these films is even average, the box-office collection is going to be great.”

We’re not sure yet if the trending hashtag will be #Thalapathyloading or #AKloading.