Kaala teaser release rushed to combat illegal leak; offers glimpses of Rajinikanth the politician

Even a leaked version and a rushed unveiling hasn’t lessened the fan frenzy over the teaser of Superstar Rajinikanth’s latest film, Kaala. The Kaala teaser was scheduled to be released on 2 March 2018 (Friday) at 10 am. The teaser unveiling had been extensively promoted on social media a well. However, on the night of 1 March, an unfinished teaser was illegally leaked online. Producers Wunderbar Films (headed by Rajinikanth’s son-in-law, the actor Dhanush) and Lyca Productions took a call to release the teaser slightly earlier than planned, to combat the leak, and posted the 1 minute 17 second clip to social media at midnight on 2 March itself. By 11 am on Friday, just an hour after the originally scheduled release time, the Kaala teaser had already crossed 3,158,733 views on YouTube. [caption id=“attachment_4373371” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Rajinikanth in Kaala[/caption] Slated for a 27 April release, this will be Rajinikanth’s first film after he officially announced his intention to enter politics, and contest all the 235 seats from Tamil Nadu. Naturally, there is a lot riding on Kaala for Rajinikanth. Kaala seems cleverly designed to project Rajinikanth as the one-man saviour Tamil Nadu needs, with the superstar playing a Robin Hood-esque don (a character reportedly inspired by the late gangster Varadarajan Mudaliar). As in Kabali, director Pa Ranjith allows Rajinikanth to play his age on screen, at no loss to his superhero image. The very opening glimpse of the Kaala teaser seeks to deliver a message about the kind of politician Rajinikanth will be: one who fights for the rights of the Dravidian people. So you have Nana Patekar (the perfect villanous foil to Rajinikanth) playing a Maharashtrian politico, who looks at the camera and asks, “What sort of name is Kaala?” Samuthirakani’s rich baritone voice explains in a voiceover: “Kaala means black, Kaala means God of death and a protector who fights for his own people”. The phenomenal response to the Kaala teaser is going to make it even hotter property in the trade. The area wise business of the film is yet to begin as the producers have quoted a high price. The Kaala teaser is now trending at number one on social media in India, and is the first Rajinikanth film teaser to be released simultaneously on YouTube and Facebook. The producers are hoping to shatter a few records within the next 24 hours.