On a day that witnessed fan frenzy for tickets at the advance booking counters for the Rajnikant-starrer Sivaji - The Boss, activists of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) staged a dharna opposing the screening of the movie in front of the office of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce.
Vedike City Wing president Sanneerappa alleged that the Chamber had been acting against the interests of Kannada cinema. As per the rule adopted by the Chamber, non-Kannada movies should be screened in Karnataka only seven weeks after they are released, he pointed out. “Because of the Chamber’s anti-Kannada stand, two Kannada movies to be released on Friday - No 73, Shantinivasa and Jambada Hudugi - will suffer,” he said.
Protesters could not present a memorandum in this connection as no office-bearer of the Chamber was present at the office during the protest.
Mr Sanneerappa said that the Vedike activists would make all efforts to stop the screening of Sivaji in Bangalore on Friday. “Our activists will buy tickets for the movie and obstruct its screening,” he said.
Huge response
Advance booking for the movie opened at the multiplexes on Thursday, to an overwhelming response. In PVR Cinemas, people had queued up in the morning itself, only to be told that the booking would start only at 6 pm.
Inox in Garuda Mall had the first fan walking in as early as 3.30 am. “We had planned to open booking by noon but by 9 am itself, there was a crowd of around 1,000. We had to open the counters right then,” Mohit Bhargava, Regional General Manager, Inox told Deccan Herald. At Inox, tickets have been sold out till Tuesday. The multiplex will open booking for subsequent days on Friday.
Other theatres screening the movie, including Urvashi, also reported massive rush for tickets. Fans were at the counters from the wee hours of the day.
Sivaji, an AVM production directed by Shankar, will open in screens worldwide on Friday.
Chamber clarifies
Reacting to the KRV allegation that Sivaji was being released in violation of the Film Chamber norms, the Chamber said in a statement that there was no question of violation.
“Of the around 1,200 theatres in the State, Sivaji will be screened only in 17, including three multiplexes and 10 theatres in Bangalore. The release is in all ways abiding by the Chamber norms,” the statement said. It also added that the Chamber had Kannada movies as its top priority and Sivaji would in no way affect the Kannada industry.
Sivaji’s Karnataka distributor H D Gangaraju also asserted that the movie was being released in the State in accordance with the Chamber-stipulated norms.
“I have my responsibilities as a member of the Kannada movie fraternity and Kannada cinema continues to be my top priority as well,” he said.