Fans reached the cinema halls as early as 6pm for the premiere, scheduled to start at 10pm last night.
The special screening was also attended by the president of Malaysia's largest ethnic Indian based political party MIC president S Subramaniam, his deputy SK Devamany, Deputy youth and sports minister M Saravanan, actors Jalaluddin Hasan, Norman Hakim and Dhansika, who star in the movie as well.
In "Kabali," Rajinikanth plays the role of a don based in Malaysia known as Kabaliswaran.
Subramaniam lauded the makers for shooting the film in the country and adding to the economic growth.
He noted that about 1,000 Malaysians took part in the making of the movie and that the money spent on it had contributed to the local economy, local news agency Bernama said.