'Only five people in cinema hall': 'KD: The Devil' struggles with almost empty theaters

The long-awaited release of Showman Prem’s KD: The Devil has proved underwhelming, with audiences offering a lukewarm response to Dhura Sarja's latest release. The movie failed to provide a good start, with reports of early morning screenings getting delayed by over 1 hour and a sparse audience. KVN Production's first release of 2026 has so far failed to generate the theatrical momentum many expected.

Despite the ensemble cast and big-budget scale, social media is buzzing over a journalist’s claim that only five people were present in the cinema hall on the First Day First Show of Dhurva Sarja’s film. This post highlights the lack of audience interest in the film during the opening hours.

Critics have been quick to blame the production house’s marketing strategy for the thin opening crowds. Many said that despite sitting on this project for over three years, the makers could have resorted to a better strategy. Meanwhile, they argue that a weekday opening invites a slower start, and the crowd is likely to get better during evening shows and will pick up over the upcoming weekend.

With the First Day First Show (FDFS) now concluded, early reports are flooding in with a mixed response. While a section of the audience is celebrating the film, calling it a "Pakka Commercial", others are calling it a big let-down, questioning Dhruva Sarja’s decision to headline a movie with a weak narrative.

Despite the star-studded line-up, the movie failed to deliver what the audience expected. While the initial turnout was thin, digital interest tells a different story. BookMyShow currently suggests over 130K interest votes for KD: The Devil, suggesting a massive good turnout.

As word-of-mouth spreads, the makers remain hopeful that the film will gain momentum and eventually solidify its status as a high-octane mass entertainer.

About KD The Devil

Directed by Prem, KD The Devil stars Dhruva Sarja in the lead role, alongside Sudeepa, Sanjay Dutt, Shilpa Shetty, V. Ravichandran, Ramesh Aravind, Reeshma Nanaiah, Jisshu Sengupta and Nora Fatehi. The movie is backed by Venkat K. Narayana under his banner KVN Productions and was released in five languages: Kannada, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam.