Chennai: Superstar Rajinikanth’s team late on Saturday night retracted its earlier statement and confirmed that the ‘Meet & Greet Thalaivar’ contest is genuine. The team had initially dismissed the event as fake earlier in the day.

Rajinikanth’s publicist, Riaz Ahmed, issued the clarification on Saturday night. Referring to his earlier tweet, he wrote, “Clarification Statement! Due to an earlier miscommunication, there was some confusion regarding the Coolie Meet & Greet Thalaivar contest by Malik Streams. We now confirm that the contest is valid, organised with the required details, and open for participation. We thank all fans for their understanding and unwavering support.”

The confusion began on Saturday morning when Riaz Ahmed stated that the contest being promoted in Malaysia by distribution company Malik Streams had not received approval from Rajinikanth. The team advised fans not to be misled by the announcement.

In his initial statement, the publicist said, “Dear All, we would like to clarify that the “Meet & Greet Thalaivar” contest that is currently being promoted by Malik Streams in Malaysia is completely unauthorised, fake, and has been announced without obtaining any prior permission from Thalaivar.”

He added, “We strongly advise fans and the public not to participate or engage in this misleading activity. We request your kind cooperation in spreading this clarification to ensure that fans are not misled.”

However, later that night, the team reversed its stance and confirmed that the contest is indeed valid and open for participation.

A few days earlier, Malik Streams had posted an announcement on Instagram promoting the ‘COOLIE WATCH & WIN CONTEST’. The caption read: “The chance of a lifetime: Meet & Greet with Superstar Rajinikanth awaits! All you have to do is: Purchase Coolie movie tickets, Post them on your Instagram feed (public account), Use #COOLIEWW2025.”

The announcement poster further said, “Only the Top 3 highest purchasers will win this golden opportunity.”

It also had a list of rules and regulations. It said that to enter the contest, contestants should purchase movie tickets for Coolie and post them on their Instagram feeds (not stories). Their Instagram accounts must be public and they should include the hashtag #COOLIEWW2025 in their posts.

Stating that tickets could be purchased in multiple transactions, but the movie, date, showtime, hall, and cinema location must be the same, the distribution firm had said that only tickets dated on or after August 21 would be accepted.

The distribution firm also said that each Instagram account was allowed only one entry and that the minimum entry requirement was 50 tickets. The top three highest ticket purchasers would win an exclusive Meet & Greet with Superstar Rajinikanth, it said.

IANS