A fan since he was seven
Sanju Samson has never hidden what Rajinikanth means to him — the Kerala wicketkeeper has said he has been a “periya fan”, a huge fan, of the superstar since the age of seven (Business Today). So when Jailer 2 released and a team commitment in Delhi cost him the first-day-first-show experience, missing the film quietly was never really an option.
His solution was to book an entire cinema hall — a private screening at Cinepolis in Bengaluru’s Lulu Mall — for his wife, family and friends (Business Today). In a video shared on social media, Samson said he had been lucky enough to book the whole theatre and was very excited to watch Rajini sir on the big screen (Times of India).
The dressing room came along
The screening doubled as a team outing. Samson invited the members of the Indian team and support staff who understand Tamil to join him, turning a fan’s private celebration into a dressing-room event (Business Today; Livemint).
The film itself hardly needed the help. Jailer 2, directed by Nelson Dilipkumar, brings Rajinikanth back as Tiger Muthuvel Pandian, with Ramya Krishnan, Yogi Babu and Mirnaa returning from the first film and SJ Suryah, Mithun Chakraborty, Suraj Venjaramoodu and Vidya Balan joining the cast; Anirudh Ravichander composed the music (Times of India). Business Today reports the film’s first week at the worldwide box office topped ₹600 crore, passing the lifetime business of Leo — the kind of run that turns a release into a season (Business Today). For scale, it joins the year’s other box-office phenomenon we have been tracking, Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s record run, in showing that event cinema is very much alive.
Then he took the fandom onto the field
The loveliest part of the story is what happened next. Days after the screening, Samson walked out in Christchurch and made 67 off 33 balls to power India’s record chase of 226 against New Zealand — the innings we covered ball by ball — and Gulf News reported that he celebrated the knock with a connection to Jailer 2’s anthem (Gulf News). The fifty was his eighth in T20Is this calendar year, a tally bettered by only a handful of Indian batters in any year (Gulf News).
It is not a one-off, either. During IPL 2026, Samson marked a century for Chennai Super Kings by recreating Rajinikanth’s iconic Padayappa salute, and he has previously described meeting the superstar at his residence in March 2023 as a long-cherished dream come true (Gulf News).
Why this story keeps travelling
First, it is fandom without a filter. Most celebrity devotion is managed by PR teams; booking out a Cinepolis hall, inviting your teammates and saying so on camera is not. Fans recognise the real thing when they see it, which is why the clip has kept circulating days after the screening.
Second, it shows how Indian cricket and Tamil cinema now market each other. A ₹600-crore film gets a second wave of attention from a cricketer’s love for it; a cricketer’s innings gets a soundtrack and a storyline from the film. Neither side bought the other’s reach — the crossover is free, and both are bigger for it.
Third, Samson himself is the bridge. A Malayali cricketer, raised on Tamil cinema, starring for India and playing his franchise cricket in Chennai — his career already sits at the junction of three fan cultures. The theatre booking was not a gimmick layered onto that identity. It was the identity, expressed at full volume.