Across Tamil Nadu, cinemas are witnessing an unprecedented rush this weekend as films of Rajnikanth, Kamal Haasan and Vijay were released simultaneously on New Year's Day, April 14.

In Chennai, the three releases - "Chandramukhi" starring Rajnikanth, "Mumbai Xpress" starring Kamal Haasan and "Sachein" starring Vijay - have been pre-booked for a week, industry officials say.

Kollywood, Tamil Nadu's film industry, has not seen such crowds in the last five years and police officials have tightened up security at cinema halls across the state.

On Thursday, the first day first show tickets for "Chandramukhi" were sold in black for as much as Rs.500. The film was released in 18 halls in Chennai alone.

Rajni fans also include the Japanese, five of whom flew down to Chennai for the release. The star has a large following in Japan, since his film "Muthu" was shown there almost a decade ago.

The foreign admirers - Hase Kawa, a Buddhist monk from Osaka, Sima, who is a film critic, Miyura, a software engineer, Oonishi, a fashion designer, and Kuwa Bara -all sporting Rajni T shirts and memorabilia, say they had to go from hall to hall in search of tickets.

They finally saw "Chandramukhi" at a faraway theatre on the outskirts of the city.

For Kamal Haasan's "Mumbai Xpress", people bought tickets in black for as much as Rs.300.

The name "Mumbai Xpress" has drawn flak from Tamil groups like the Pattali Makkal Katchi. Dozens of activists of the Dalit Panthers outfit were arrested before several halls for staging protests against "Mumbai Xpress". Friday saw protestors entering Ambika theatre in Chennai's outskirts and tearing up the screen.

"We have sought stringent security measures," said Abirami Ramanathan, secretary of the Tamil Nadu Theater Owners' Association.

In 1995, simultaneous release of Kamal Haasan and Rajnikant films had seen fan groups clashing with each other at the Udayam theatre.

"We don't want to take any chances, we are taking all precautions," said C. Saylendra Babu, joint commissioner, Chennai police.

Even for Vijay starrer "Sachein", a college love story, tickets were difficult to get. Vijay's last four films have been huge successes.

Filmmakers, meanwhile, attribute the reason for the rush to toughened video piracy laws.

Producer A.V.M. Saravanan said he is convinced that the crowds returned to the halls because of "the stringent measure against video piracy".

The South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce (SIFCC), the Producers' Council, South Indian Film Artistes Association and the Film Employees Federation of South India have all welcomed Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha's crackdown on video piracy last September, including it under the Goondas Act with imprisonment and fines as penalty.

Kamal Haasan's "Nala Damayanti" had pirated versions being sold on Mount Road within three days of the release and Rajnikanth's last film "Baba" too failed at the box office despite much hype.