In a very unusual move, several companies in Bengaluru and Chenni have declared holiday on Friday 22, the opening day of Rajinikanth starrer ‘Kabali’, so that employees could watch the movie on the first day.

The decision to announce a leave on Friday was taken to preempt employees from taking sick-leave or absenting themselves otherwise from work on that day. Not only that, some of these companies also volunteered to giveaway free tickets in order to evade piracy.

Two companies, Bengaluru-based Opus Waterproofing and Chennai-based Fyndus India Pvt Ltd, among others, are the ones who have put up notices regarding the leave at their offices. They would be even giving free tickets to evade mass sick leave.

Manoj Pushparaj of Opus Waterproofing said, “This was an internal company circulation that was sent out on Sunday. I could feel the eagerness in my employees, so instead of dealing with mass bunks and mobile switch offs, I came up with the idea of declaring a holiday on July 22 and be a part of the celebration. It would also serve as a motivation to my employees. Like Diwali bonus, we treated them to Kabali bonus.”

The Kabali makers are fighting hard to stop the pirated version of the film after reports surfaced in the media that the film had been leaked online, and was available for download on many websites.

However, the Thalaiva fans are ready for the big day. It is said that tickets were sold out in Southern part of India in a few hours after they were issued online.