Reservations for the much-awaited Ajith-starrer Billa, remake of superstar Rajinikanth's yesteryear smash hit, started this Sunday, without any prior announcement when the clock struck 12 a.m.

Ajith's fans, curious to know the date of commencement of booking, had been in touch with the theaters where it is scheduled to be screened.

Sathyam Cinemas, Chennai's premium multiplex, which has online booking as well as phone booking, had informed the fans on Sunday evening that it would start at 12 midnight.

Some of the fans, who normally crash early, had their alarms set to wake them up at 12 a.m. so as to be the first to book tickets for the first show. The booking opened a few minutes before midnight and Sathyam Cinemas' call center was flooded with calls, which almost jammed the several lines they had engaged for this purpose. Those who woke up an hour late were surprised to find that the tickets for the first three days were booked within just one hour. Sathyam, the biggest screen in the multiplex, with more than a thousand seats, is screening four shows which makes it 11,000 seats approximately for the first three days. Amazingly, all this was booked in just an hour. This usually happens only for Rajinikanth movies. The scene wasn't any different in the other theaters as serpentine queues were seen outside INOX, another multiplex, scheduled to open its counters at 9 a.m. this morning witnessed huge crowds gathering outside the mall where it is housed but they however had to return disappointed as they later announced that it will be issued only tomorrow, December 11th. Mammoth crowds waiting to book their tickets has jammed the roads leading to Kasi Theatre, which also screens Billa. According to our sources, the police are having a tough time controlling the traffic as well as the crowd. With the booking for the first day closed within an hour, fans are also demanding a special show a day before the release of the movie. The last time theaters witnessed such huge crowds was for this year's biggest hit Sivaji. Guess all the publicity and hype has paid off well.