Kabalimania grips corporate India

Corporate India is lining up to form brand associations with the much-awaited Rajinikanth-starrer Kabali . AirAsia apart, Amazon, Cadbury and Airtel have jumped aboard the brandwagon, with 100 more companies said to be in the queue.

“We are very selective and want to be associated only with large brands,” says D Paranthaman, CEO, V Creations, which has produced the mega budget film, slated to hit the screens in July.

AirAsia India plans to paint the exterior of its aircraft on the Chennai-Bengaluru route with a huge

Kabali banner. The airline will have a special package for Rajinikanth fans who want to fly from Bengaluru to Chennai for the first-day, first-show, he said.

Passengers on select AirAsia flights will be served the

Kabali food preferred by Rajinikanth, who plays an ageing don in the film, said Paranthaman, son of ‘Kalaipuli’ S Thanu, whose V Creations has produced over 45 films.

Kabali t-shirts, key chains and Rajinikanth mini statues (as cast in Kabali ) will go on sale on Amazon from July, said Paranthaman.

Since Rajinikanth was a bus conductor before moving to the film world, Cadbury has decided to promote special Kabali panels with the tagline ‘Superstar ka 5 Star’ on the sides of buses plying in Tamil Nadu, he said.

Airtel will have holographic projection vans crisscrossing the State. Like Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last Lok Sabha campaign, Rajinikanth will address his fans through a 3D holographic projection. Trailers and scenes of various Rajinikanth movies, including Kabali , will be shown on large screens.

Apart from Tamil, Telugu and Hindi, V Creations plans to ride on Rajinikanth’s pan-Asia appeal and release the movie in Chinese, Thai, Japanese and Malay. “We want to make Kabali an international film as there are actors from China, Thailand and Malaysia. Over 100 Thai fighters have acted in it,” said Paranthaman.

The company is yet to shortlist distributors for the movie, he added.