‘Vishwaroopam’ screening peaceful in North India

Kamal Hassan’s ‘Vishwaroopam’ was released in Utter Pradesh amid tight security. The movie was released in five multiplexes and screened in two single screen theatres in Lucknow
Despite receiving warnings from Samajwadi Party for not allowing the film to be screened in their state as it portrayed Muslims in poor light, the government on Thursday gave its nod to release the film in their state. For the peaceful screening of the movie, tight security was provided. Inspector General of Police Badri Prasad Singh told all district police chief to provide adequate security so that no unpleasant incident takes place.
Apart from small protest outside the Shubham Hall in Lucknow and a multiplex in Agra, overall situation was pleasant. Atul Gupta, deputy manager of PVR Cinemas in Lucknow, informed that the first show opened at 1 pm has 70 % occupancy.
Kamal Hassan starrer ‘Vidhwaroopam’ received an average response in North India. Despite facing ban in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, the movie was released in many parts of North India. The film received average response but likely to pick up in the coming days. In Delhi, the response is also average but the collection is expected to increase during the weekend.
"Whoever has seen the movie has liked it - be it people from south India or north India. The publicity that the movie has got is working in favour of the movie. We are expecting a hike (in collections) over the weekend," says Anant Verma, director and business head, DT Cinemas.
He says no security issues was there and "everything is under control".
"The occupancy for the first show was around 55 to 60%, but that is how it is every (early) Friday. The films start picking up from Friday evening," he added.
In Punjab, the film saw below average opening, informed distributor Jaspal Dhingra of Nanaksar Enterprises.
"The response to the first show was below average. The film may be good, but collections are very average. Generally, dubbed films from south India don't do well in Punjab. There are very few people here who want to watch the movie," Dhingra told IANS.
"As far as security is concerned, there were no issues here and I don't think there will be any problems in the future too," he said.