Sivaji released in Bangalore amid tight security

Tamil superstar Rajnikant’s Sivaji hit the silver screen in Bangalore on Friday amid tight police security in the wake of the pro-Kannada outfits to threat to disrupt the screenings.

Thousands of people thronged outside all the ten theatres and three multiplexes in Bangalore that were screening the Tamil movie, which had generated unprecedented frenzy among Rajnikant’s fans here.

Crowds came to the theatres in mammoth processions and burst crackers before entering the theatres. A few fans clambered atop the cut-outs of Rajnikant and performed puja. Blackmarketeers were found doing a roaring business as most theatres displayed a “House-full” board.

Scores of police personnel were stationed outside the theatres and the cine-goers were let in only after a careful frisking. “We have provided adequate security at all the theatres screening the movie. No untoward incident has been reported so far”, Additional Commissioner of Bangalore City Police (Law and Order) Bipin Gopalakrishna told reporters.

However, the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, which has opposed the screening of the Tamil movie in the State, has issued a 24-hour deadline for the theatres to withdraw Sivaji and replace it with a Kannada movie.

Vedike activists led by their President Narayana Gowda staged a demonstration in front of Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce in Bangalore yesterday to protest against the screening of the Tamil movie without observing the seven-week moratorium on release of non-Kannada movies.

Narayana Gowda said the collection at theatres screening Kannada films in Bangalore had hit rock bottom on account of Sivaji’s simultaneous release in Bangalore. “It is a major blow to the Kannada film industry”, he said and gave the theatres screening Sivaji to replace the Tamil movie with a Kannada film within the next 24 hours. “Or else, they will have to face the consequences”, the Vedike leader warned.

Meanwhile, Secretary of Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce Thomas D Souza said there has been no breach of rules in the screening of Sivaji in Bangalore and elsewhere in Karnataka.

Out of the estimated 1,200 film theatres in Karnataka, Sivaji has been released in only 13 theatres in Bangalore and four in the rest of the State. The release of Sivaji has been in keeping with the restrictions on release of non-Kannada movies in Karnataka to safeguard the Kannada film industry, Thomas D Souza said.

The sizeable Tamil speaking population in Bangalore is visibly excited over the release of Sivaji, featuring Tamil superstar Rajnikant, who incidentally was born and brought up in Bangalore.

The film star was born in Bangalore as Shivaji Rao Gaekwad and grew up to become a bus conductor before he started his film career in a Kannada film Muni Thayi. Later, he shifted to Tamil movies.