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Vishwaroop has average opening

Producers are hoping the Hindi version of the controversial film will draw more audiences in the coming weeks

IANS
Published: 14:10 February 5, 2013

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The Hindi version of actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan’s “Vishwaroopam” hit the screens February 1 amid controversies and the espionage thriller, made at Rs950 million (Dh65.5 million), grossed approximately Rs76.6 million in its opening weekend.

The Hindi version earned Rs.19.9 million on the opening day. The footfalls increased over the weekend, but reception by audience was not as per the expectation.

“Weekend had 50 per cent occupancy on an average. More young crowds are coming, but it is less than what we expected. So far 6,000 people came,” Punit Sahay, senior manager, programming and operations, Spice told IANS.

“The footfalls might not increase over weekdays but we are hoping that during next weekend more and more people will come,” he added.

The multilingual stars Kamal in the title role, while Rahul Bose, Shekhar Kapur and Pooja Kumar too make an appearance in the movie.

“The movie has done very well despite being a dubbed movie. Mixed kind of audience is coming,” said Piyush Raizada, director Delight Cinema.

The Tamil and Telugu versions, titled “Vishwaroopam”, were scheduled for Jan 25 release, but it was banned after some Muslim organisations claimed that certain scenes in the movie will hurt religious sentiments of the community. As a result it was banned Tamil Nadu and later the film’s screening was stopped in Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Though the ban was lifted in Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh on January 29, protesters in Tamil Nadu did not allow the release of the movie.

Later, Kamal agreed to edit out the objectionable scenes from the film and now it will hit screens in Tamil Nadu on Thursday.