With just few hours left for the magnum opus Anniyan to grace theatres, the Anniyan fever seems to have gripped Chennaiites and the rest of Tamil Nadu.

Yesterday, the film's counters were opened for advance booking for the film releasing on June 17th. And within hours, most of the shows were sold out.

"It is phenomenal," says a theater owner in Chennai. "It looks bigger than Chandramukhi," he adds for good measure.

Theatres wore colorful look with posters and cutouts of the films while huge crowds waited since the morning to book their tickets in advance. The scene was quite similar to any release of actor Rajnikanth.

In Chennai, where the movie would be released in over half-a-dozen theatres, eager fans waited since early in the morning to book their tickets. As a result when the counters were opened, the tickets were booked in advance for a week.

One of the costliest movies to have been made in Tamil ever, Anniyan has generated a lot of expectations for the fact that both director Shankar and actor Vikram are back after a break of more than a year.

According to Saravanan (31), an avid fan of Vikram, "I came early in the morning and stood in the queue to book ticket for Anniyan. I am desperate to see the movie on the day of its release (Friday). Well, I managed to get my ticket".

Theatre owners are pleased with the response for the ticket reservation. Due to good crowds, four booking centers were opened in Sathyam Cinemas to facilitate audience to book the tickets and all the tickets for the first week were sold out in a couple of hours.

After Chandramukhi, Anniyan is the one that has seen such a response from fans, says Prakash, a member of Cheeyan Vikram Fans Association. "In spite of the scorching sun on this hot summer day we have gathered to buy our tickets," he says with enthusiasm overflowing.

And it is not in Chennai alone that fans are expectant. Out there in the US, which is emerging as a lucrative market for Tamil films, things are equally rosy for Anniyan.

US distributors, Bharat Creations feel the movie can bring more crowds to the theatres than their previous release Chandramukhi. Mind you, Chandramukhi has almost finished its 50-day run in the US and is the first Tamil movie to do so.

No doubt Oscar Ravichandran and Shankar would be in all smiles with the response from the audience.