Thalaivar Kabali entertains the visually impaired

Delirious fans say two eyes are not enough to take in the mesmeric impact and screen presence of their demi-god Rajinikanth. The recent releases of the southern superstar and its box-office earnings have continued to make waves despite a good month since it released in over 10000 screens across the world.

Call it a socially-oriented gesture or the ever- expanding power of technology, this Tamil film was exclusively screened for over 700 visually impaired people including adults and children, representing 10 organisations. According to the website metromatinee.com, Sathyam Cinemas in Chennai, a noted multiplex had employed descriptive audio technology that helped in enabling an audio narration of the visuals shown in between the dialogues of the film without any interruption.

Interestingly, people who had vision were given eye patches to experience how the visually impaired feel when they watch the movie. Obviously, this added to the many firsts that the film has been noted for. Though the ultimate experience for the average viewer locally has not been exhilarating, as has been reflected in the box-office earnings in India, it has surely made a splash at the global level, having been dubbed in Indian and foreign languages like Malay, Japanese etc.

It had also set off debates in the media whether the ageing icon is making a calculated image shift and trying to look his older, macho self even as the continuing swell of admirers cannot say anything critical about him. Talking about their experience, excited fans shared with the website, quite a few interesting observations. V Marimuthu, a music student said, "It was a jolly experience.

I was able to fully understand the film unlike other regular movies". Divya Bharathi, a Tamil literature student said "The description was so nice, I was able to literally see what was happening". If this is not an apt example of sweeping celluloid craze for Superstar, what is, one may ask.

By K Naresh Kumar