There was little to celebrate for Rajinikanth fans in Karnataka as the superstar's latest film Kaala was screened in only a few theatres in the state. This, after a fervent attempt by fringe pro-Kannada groups to stall the release of the film on Thursday.
While theatres in Bengaluru only began screening the film in the afternoon, the film was screened in Ballari and Hosapete amid protests by pro-Kannada activists.
The Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, which spearheaded the efforts to stop the screening of the film, managed to stall its release in several Bengaluru theatres, including those in Lido Mall, Mantri Mall and Forum Mall, and also in single screen theatres like Balaji Theatre in Vivek Nagar and Urvashi Theatre in Sudhama Nagar. The film was also stalled from releasing in theatres in Mandya, Mysuru, Hubbali, Raichur, Shivamogga and Koppal.
In Ballari, a group of pro-Kannada activists got into a heated confrontation with officials at Radhika Cinema. They were reportedly unhappy that the theatre was issuing tickets to movie-goers. A similar scenario played out in Hosapete. However, the film was screened in spite of the activists resorting to a sit-in dharna outside the theatre to halt the screening.
Even though police had arrived as early as 5 am in some theatres, many exhibitors feared that protesters would overrun the theatres and damage property.
Meanwhile, shows in Mangaluru went ahead as planned without any reported disturbances. RS Srinivas, the movie’s distributor in Karnataka (except Ballari), said, “It is disappointing that there were no morning shows, but theatres began screening the film in the afternoon. By end of day we had about 50 screens and we are confident of another 125 screens showing it from tomorrow (Friday) morning,” speaking to Times of India.
Shows are expected to run as per schedule on Friday, the second day of the film's run in the state.