I almost stopped feeling homesick for the first time after landing in Seattle more than a year ago. It seemed as if the whole of Tamil Nadu and all our Indian friends in the US were talking of nothing but 'Baba'.

My husband Suresh is an ardent fan of Rajinikant and could not wait to see the film. Baba was going to be released in theatres in the US and was coming to a cinema hall near our place.

I did not need to nag my husband this time to take me to the film. We began preparations months in advance. Like in Chennai, from where I come, we did block booking. In all 20 of us were going for the movie, second day, first show.

My husband had converted even his American colleague Liz. The ardent Rajini fan had educated her on the movie and also the symbol the superstar flashes in the film: the reverse of Spiderman!

In the past several weeks that they met, my husband and she would greet each other by flashing the symbol and grunting, "Baba." Though Liz was part of our group, she could not make it to the movie.

Going for an Indian movie in the US is itself a celebration. It is not uncommon to see the men turn up in their dhotis and the women in sarees. The atmosphere would get surcharged with emotion and the feeling that one gets in such a crowd has to be experienced to be believed.

We set off with a song in her hearts. I was gleeful as most of my friends back home had not seen the movie. I was one up on them. This would give me a great chance to give them a review of a Tamil movie from the US.

The group converged on the theatre and we greeted each other heartily. What a treat from Rajini after three years, some could be heard saying.

And then a hush fell inside the theatre. The lights went of and the movie began to play…

Do you want to know what an anti-climax it was? Will it be enough if I told you that most people left during the interval?

The north Indian friends who came with us said, "It could be seen once." And my husband thought it was GOOD. Hey Baba!

Chithra Suresh