With tickets for Rajinikanth-starrer Kabali sold out in most of the cinemas in Chennai, city-based start-ups such as OyeThere.com are cashing in on the Kabali fever, distributing Kabali movie tickets to increase business.

Chennai-based e-commerce start-up OyeThere.com is giving out a Kabali ticket for every purchase of over ₹2,000 that includes a Kabali T-shirt. Shriram S, founder, said the traffic to the site has increased five-fold since the company announced the offer on Saturday. “The response has been overwhelming and the business has been very good in the last few days, especially the Kabali T-shirts — they are flying off the shelves. We have got requests for tickets from Bombay and the US.”

Shriram had booked two 190-seater screens at Inox Cinemas, Chennai, for July 23 and 24, and they are completely sold out. “I’m planning to block two screens next weekend as well, as there has been huge demand,” he added.

Taxi aggregator Ola, too, has joined the bandwagon. According to a customer email sent by the company, it has partnered with Think Music and SS Music to give out movie tickets and music USBs of Kabali free of charge to those taking maximum Ola rides between July 15 and 21.

Its competitor Fast Track is also using Kabali to promote its mobile app. The company’s Facebook page states that customers taking two trips using the app stand a chance to win two Kabali movie tickets.

Entrepreneurs, Rajini fans themselves, are also going to great lengths to watch the movie. Sriram Manoharan, founder of Chennai-based Contus, is flying to Dubai with six of his friends on Thursday to watch the movie a day before it releases in India.

“It is a Thalaivar movie, and we want to do something different and memorable,” he said.

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