Team Kabzaa seeks divine intervention as film looks at worst opening for a multi-starrer

Producer-director R Chandru is distributing the film in Karnataka, where bookings are sluggish and no early morning shows.

Upendra, Sudeep and Shiva Rajkumar in Kabzaa

Tomorrow, March 17, Kabzaa releases in theatres across the world. But the R Chandru directorial, despite having Upendra in the lead and pivotal cameos from Kiccha Sudeep and Shivarajkumar, is recording the worst opening day bookings for a pan-India multi-starrer. Advance bookings for the film had been opened on March 12 predominantly in single-screens, where rates have remained between Rs 150 and Rs 250 depending on the class of ticket booked. Multiplexes opened bookings as of late March 15 with rates ranging between Rs 300- Rs 900 (recliner). For a film that is being called the ‘next-big-thing’ from Kannada cinema, Kabzaa bookings, though, have remained abysmal. A look at booking site BookMyShow paints a sorry state, with only a handful of shows registering as fast filling and the page looking quite ‘green’. Interestingly, unlike Darshan’s Kranti, which had a large sections of netizens taking to social media about its similar ‘green’ status and rebuking that team, the comments for Kabzaa are not on that level yet.

Netizens have been blaming filmmaker Chandru for this current negative trend, stating that his uninspiring promotions are the reason for the lack of buzz surrounding the film. Given that Kabzaa has been in the firing line from the time the teaser came out and it became clear that the filmmaker had made a film that was very similar to KGF in terms of visuals and sound, Chandru had to do a lot more than the press conferences in Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad. Throughout the promotions, his cast barely spoke anything about the film, with Upendra’s standard lines being that the technicians of Kabzaa are its real stars and that the film should not be compared to KGF, while Shriya only spoke about being grateful for being offered the role. Chandru himself refrained from talking about the film, stating that he would answer all questions after March 17.

Well, that day is only hours away, and going by the current trend, team Kabzaa will need a miracle to change the course of this tide, unless, of course a positive word of mouth begins to come in after the first shows tomorrow. Right now, it looks like team Kabzaa is hoping for some divine intervention, with Chandru and Upendra taking off to Tirupati on a special flight.

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