Actors Mammootty, Mohanlal, Prithivraj, Dulquer and Nivin rule the market in Kerala, but the Malayali audience has always been crazy about Tamil stars like Rajinikanth, Kamal, Ajith, and Vijay.
The craziness however has reached an all new high with Kabali, Rajinikanth’s movie releasing this Friday.
Malayalam superstar Mohanlal is releasing the film in Kerala.
Tickets in most of the theatres in districts such as Thrissur, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Eranakulam and Palakkad have already been sold out.
Liberty Basheer, president of Film Exhibitors Federation said that they are looking forward to a collection of at least 3 cr rupees on the first day, though the morning show is instrumental in deciding it. This, he says, will be the first time it happens in the state, as most of the Malayalam big releases were screened in not more than 130 theatres.
Though the official list of theatres stands at 306, Basheer says that four more would be added on Friday morning in districts like Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram.
He attributes the overall hype created around the film to be the main reason for the mammoth release.
“We have not had any major releases after Eid. The number of shows for movies like Mammootty starrer Kasaba and Asif Ali starrer Anuraga Karikkin Vellam has been reduced to accommodate Kabali,” he says.
However, Basheer feels that the hype will die down after the first three days of release of the film.
Of the three hundred odd theatres in the state, Thrissur district itself has 23 theatres that will screen the movie in six different shows, beginning at 6 in the morning.
Ananthu, duty officer at PVR Cinemas in Lulu Mall in Kochi said that they have been receiving enquiries since the past week. When the theatre opened pre-booking on Thursday morning, the tickets were sold out in a matter of two hours. Kabali would be screened in 4 out of the 9 screens at PVR Cinemas at the mall with 20 shows on the first day.
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