KUALA LUMPUR: Hundreds of Tamil legendary film star Rajinikanth fans braved the rain and traffic jam to watch the premiere of his latest movie ‘Kabali’ in a cinema here last night.

A round of applause echoed from fans who have gathered as early as 6pm in the cinema, when the great actor appeared on the silver screen when the screening started at 10pm.

Among the guests present were MIC president Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam, his deputy Datuk Seri S.K. Devamany, Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Datuk M. Saravanan, actors Datuk Jalaluddin Hasan, Norman Hakim and Dhansika, who also starred in the movie.

In ‘Kabali’, Rajinikanth, whose real name is Shivaji Rao, plays the role of a don in Malaysia known as Kabaliswaran, from which the movie gets its name.

This 159th movie of Rajinikanth first drew the attention of Malaysians, especially Malay movie fans, when prominent local actors like Datuk Rosyam Nor, Norman Hakim, Zack Taipan, Tony Kassim and popular Taiwan actor Winston Chao were offered roles in the movie.

Dr Subramaniam, in his speech at the screening, lauded the move by those behind the film to shoot it at Malaysian locations.

He noted that about 1,000 Malaysians took part in the making of the movie and that the money spent on it had contributed to the local economy.

– Bernama