Smooth opening for Vishwaroopam in city

Despite a controversy over its portrayal of Muslims, actor-director Kamal Haasan's latest film Vishwaroop (or Vishwaroopam in Tamil/Telugu) saw a smooth release in the city on Friday. The film, which is being screened in more than 30 theatres across the city, saw a rather lukewarm but conflict-free opening.

Suraj Sharma, manager operations, E-Square, said, "We have had almost 50 per cent bookings in all the shows. Although we were expecting 75 per cent bookings for such a big-budget film, we are happy that the proceedings are peaceful so far."

Single-screen theatres also noticed a similar trend but expressed hope that the film will gather more business over the weekend. PVR Cinemas is releasing the film across the country except in Chennai and Hyderabad.

Anurag Shete, who was spotted at City Pride Mangala waiting to catch the evening show, said, " I am happy that the film is being shown in Pune. I am a big Kamal Haasan fan and my interest in the film has gone up owing to controvery associated with it."

The spy thriller film, written, directed and co-produced by Haasan, has been made simultaneously in Tamil and Hindi.

The film has been getting a lot of attention owing to various controversies including the naming of the film, Direct-To-Home release conflicts with theater owners, Islamic protests resulting in banning of the film and political conflicts surrounding the ban. The film has Pooja Kumar, Rahul Bose, Andrea Jeremiah, Jaideep Ahlawat and Shekhar Kapur in supporting roles.

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