There! If you are from Chennai and a movie buff, the caption should be clear enough. You know. But for those few who need to be told about Chennai’s first day first show, it is just that—first day of movie release. And ever since then it has stayed with us in our language. Do you remember Pattu Mami – the movie-freak from K .Balachander’s Ethir Neechal?
For some reason FDFS is always associated with male matinee idols. These screen goddesses have followers but they never thought of celebrating this way like their counterparts do when it comes to vathyar/nadigar thilagam/superstar/ulaganayagan/ilaya thalapathi/thala. No records exist of such events taking place among M.K Thyagaraja Bhagavatar’s adherents though they might have happened. By the 1960s anyway, Tamil fans were already going to cinemas on the first day morning shows because they wanted to watch movies by Sivaji Ganesan or MGR.
There were also NTR’s fans who expressed their devotion differently altogether. From Tirumala, hundreds of baldheaded Telugu people would come down T Nagar’s Bazullah Road by bus once in a while. If one lived in Madras (Chennai) during 60s. It was right there where NTR lived and so they went straight away to see him – after all he was their real-life idol. In fact, his sentinels’ strokes were taken as direct blessings from Jaya and Vijaya who represented Vishnu at his threshold. Afterwards those devotees said Edu Kondalavada Venkataramana Govinda and left the spot. For them every other day was FDFS only if they managed to catch sight of God himself running into a studio.
For the more mortal Tamil heroes, FDFS was for years synonymous with Friday evening unless it was a Pongal or Deepavali release. The Hindu in an article dated September 10, 2016 traces the history behind Friday releases. It all started when in 1939 Gone With The Wind released on December 15, a Friday. The logic was sound. Friday was weekly payday in the US and hence people went to cinemas on this day. India caught the trend somewhat late says the same article, citing Mughal-e-Azam’s release on August 5, 1960. And from then on it became a tradition.
According to that piece of writing by 2016 this had faded away in Tamil Nadu as films began releasing more often on Thursdays. Than before while some releases were seen happening even on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. On any given day though they claimed that a hero worshipper of any super star could fill up the halls.
By 2016 it was necessary to fill the theatres on opening day anyway. Those days of silver and golden jubilee hits as well as hundred-day one were gone. Distributors were looking forward to having large audiences during the first few days of movie-showings – see The Hindu October, 24th, 2023 for details regarding such an approach before OTT platforms began screening movies online and also so that no negative comments had already been circulated about it if any at all by then when negative reviews began going around because they didn’t want them trending following their cinema release thereby making good business sense.
FDFS has gained new meanings irrespective of which weekday it is now under high stakes environment for every first show! Even this number should be increased for those who will witness such shows at night therefore several clever distributors together with managers decided to arrange a morning viewing at four o’clock sharp just after dawn (Morning Show). They even had shows at one o’clock A.M..
But there were problems here too. They also had FDFS where the hero was worshiped as part of a ritual. For a long time these pictures with GIANT CUT OUTS were seen in Kollywood until they were banned. And you could see them outside Presentation Convent and Dhun Building on Mount Road and other points. Later politicians, starting from the late Jayalalithaa, gave them quite a different meaning and purpose. However, let’s not delve into this topic now. Before film release, film cut outs turned into objects of adoration. Fans climbed up on them pouring milk all over their hero while below firecrackers were burst with camphor lit . After that the faithful went to the cinema hall before watching the movie. In North India these things happened only when Jai Santoshi Ma was released but in rationalist Tamil Nadu it has been an age old practice.
With FDFS becoming popular early morning shows tickets became unaffordable for many people. On grapevine, premiums worth 1 crore rupees have been fetched by a single screening too. Much enmity was caused by this development. Law and order issues included fans’ assembly during early hours of morning hours. Milkmen told stories of being accosted along the way as their sachets would be taken from them to be used in anointing rituals. It means that even when two heroes had films released at the same time conflicts arose between fans. Officers from Regional RTO claimed.
In 2023, Leo producers requested to hold two shows: first one at 4 am which would be followed by another show at 7am. The Government intervened saying that FDFS could start only from 9 am onwards earlier concerns about fans being forced to go to work among others were hushed down quietly.
Time or day does not matter; FDFS still rules Chennai as well as Tamilnadu And it will stay here forever most likely. Some time back cinema was to escape the day to day pressures of real life and work. So it was entertainment for evenings and weekends but now it is a world of make believe. Where people choose to stay in instead.
