Darshan's Kaatera release date comment sparks fan war

At the start of the year, when Challenging Star Darshan was promoting his release then, Kranti, which was coming out along with Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan, the Kannada superstar had said that he was prepared for this challenge. Announced first as a pan-India film, which eventually became a Kannada-only release, Kranti was a project and a film team that Darshan was quite confident about. Mera kutta mera gali mein sher hain, he had proudly declared, but the film’s box office result did not reflect this eventually. Kranti, despite the team’s claims was not a major success, so his next, Kaatera comes with a massive weight on its shoulder. The film has to be a big ticket-seller, especially since it is technically heading into a crowded box office.

Kranti: Mera kutta mera galli mein sher hai, says Darshan; will not promote film anywhere but Karnataka 

Kaatera, which is releasing on December 29 in cinema halls across Karnataka, is coming in only a week after three big films. Prabhas’ Salaar, which is releasing in Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam and is being handled by Hombale Films for its Karnataka distribution, Shah Rukh Khan’s third film for the year, Dunki, and the sequel of Aquaman, The Lost Kingdom, are all in theatres between December 21 and 22. Despite all the wars between fans of Prabhas and Shah Rukh Khan, both these films are expected to have massive openings in Karnataka, especially in Bengaluru, which contributes to a bulk of the market from the state. Kaatera’s screen and show count will depend largely on how well these films, as well as Aquaman 2 perform, their week 2 screen retention and, of course, its word-of-mouth publicity from the first show.

Darshan defends Kaatera's December 29, post Salaar and Dunki release date 

Right now, Darshan has ignited yet another fan war, when he said that the choice to release Kaatera on December 29 was because a Kannada film should not fear or be worried about other language films in its own state. Prabhas fans have been trolling the Challenging Star, saying that if he was so confident about his film, he should have released it on December 22. Darshan’s fans have not been quiet either, but a majority have been looking at avoiding more mud-slinging and that the Kannada superstar’s words have been blown out of proportion.