Rajnikanth and his Sivaji were released in a record 86 screens spread across Kerala, with 26 cities having multiple screens. This is the first time a film is released in Kerala with such grandeur, not even the films of Mammootty or Mohanlal, the reigning superstars of Malayalam cinema ever had such a wide release. The highest so far has been Mohanlal's Thandavam and Chandrotsavam which were released in 64 centres each, and the fate of both were washouts in the second week.

Palakkad witnessed great showoff, with caparisoned elephants carrying the print to the theatre yesterday with a rally of 1500 fans .The first show of the film in the state happened here, with show starting at 4.30 am, in the first theatre 'Aroma and 5.00 in the second, in the early hours, today.

In the capital city of Thiruvananthapuram, a Tamil stronghold and Mohanlal's home town, Sivaji becomes the first film to release in four screens-`New`, `Sreekumar` Sreevishakh and `Kairali` with a combined seating capacity of approximately 3900seats per show. The film is having 17 shows in the capital city itself. Recently Vijay;s Pokkiri has created history by completing 100 days in a big capacity theatres in the capital city.

At Ernakulam, the highest collecting centre in the state it is releasing in two huge screens- `Shenoys` and `Padma` with a seating capacity of 2300 per show.

In Malabar area, the citadel of Mammootty for the first time a film is releasing in 30 screens including three in Kozhikode- `Apsara`, `Ganga` and `Radha`. And to the greatest surprises, the Sivaji holocaust has virtually killed the star films that continued in many centres. Almost all the prints, except two or three, of Big B and Chotta Mumbai were removed from A class centres, atleast for a week to accommodate the big brother from Kollywood.

For the first time in the state, the show rates of the film were hiked for a few days with special consent from the state government. The initial response of the first show audience predicts the film to be the biggest ever hit in the Indian film history. As the film has driven his fans into a frenzy state, the processions with cutouts followed after the first shows in various centres.