However, dancing to drum rolls, bursting fire crackers, cutting cakes is how fans of the veteran actor celebrated the release of film "Kaala" in Tamil Nadu this morning. Additional security was provided by the police at all the several hundred movie theatres where the film is being screened in the state.
Large crowds were seen outside all these theatres since early in the day."I am a fan of Rajinikanth. I am from Karnataka and came here to see the movie," a person told the media outside a theatre here.
"Today is Diwali for me. I have waited for a long time for this movie," a fan told a television channel in Coimbatore theatre. "This not Rajinikanth movie but movie director P.Ranjith movie."
"Kaala" has been facing opposition in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Several Tamil activists and political parties voiced their opposition to Rajinikanth's views on the violence in Thuthookudi.
Visiting the violence-hit town where 13 persons were killed on May 22 in police action amid anti-Sterlite Copper smelter plant protests, Rajinikanth had said it was anti-social elements that indulged in violence.
In Karnataka, the film's release was opposed by some organisations after the southern superstar said the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) on the sharing of river water between Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry, has to be set up.