PremiumShakhahaari ends theatrical run in Bengaluru; makers say exhibitors gave show to Malayalam film
Sandeep Sunkad’s thriller starring Rangayana Raghu and Gopalkrishna Deshpande was still registering decent footfalls in the only remaining show when that was also removed
Last Updated: 05.19 PM, Mar 14, 2024
On March 12, Monday, the Kannada film Shakhahaari had its last show in Bengaluru. Sandeep Sunkad’s thriller starring Rangayana Raghu and Gopalkrishna Deshpande in the lead, released in theatres on February 16 and was one of the better films in a week in which 10-odd Kannada movies hit screens. Despite the overwhelming positive response to the film, like most other ‘good’ Kannada films, getting footfalls and retaining theatres has been a struggle for the team.
The last straw came this week, when one of the film’s last remaining shows in Bengaluru, was re-allocated to a Malayalam movie that already had 4 shows at the multiplex concerned. Taking to social media, the team, including producer Rajesh Keelambi and director Sandeep spoke about how the film had organic occupancy in the range of 50-110 in the last four days before it was removed, which included weekdays.
When the Shakhahaari show was removed, the team brought it to the attention of the multiplex management, who in turn cited a technical glitch at first. But when this was countered with proof that a show was happening at the time slot that was Shakhahaari’s earlier and was now being beld by a popular Malayalam movie, the language changed.
According to Rajesh, the multiplex manager alleged that the team was making bulk bookings to give the impression of occupancy, when the auditorium was actually empty. Refuting this, Rajesh said that Shakhahaari’s occupancy, no matter how small, has been organic and that audiences who’d seen the film in its last four days have attested to that as well.
The team of Shakhahaari also stated that in some centres, especially multiplexes, the schedules for each day would be updated quite late. For instance, for a 7.25 pm show, Sandeep says that bookings would open only at 6 pm, which is not enough time for people to even realize that the film is available and head out. As such, when occupancy drops, it gives exhibitors a reason to replace a film with another, more popular one.