Shivarajkumar’s Ghost to release in 350 screens in Karnataka

Kannada actor-filmmaker MG Srinivas is ensuring that his film Ghost gets a much-coveted festival releases and is bringing the Shivarajkumar-led film to theatres on October 19. Capitalizing on a long holiday and the festive spirit should not only be the prerogative of big films from other industries, he reckons. Srini, as the filmmaker is known, is willing to take this challenge because he is confident in the quality of his content and that it will strike a chord with audiences. In a conversation with us, he said that the fight for screens will be hardest on day 1, but thereafter only those films with good content will get maximum visibility and, in that department, Srini thinks he has a winner on hand.

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Nevertheless, in Karnataka, Ghost will begin its box office campaign with a modest 350 screens, within which, barring a centre like Bengaluru, the rest of the state will prioritise the Century Star’s film, says the filmmaker. In Bengaluru, besides Leo, Tiger Nageshwara Rao, Bhagavanth Kesari, Ganpath and Tejas, there’s also Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.

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Ghost is the only Kannada original film this Dasara, while Leo and Tiger Nageshwara Rao have Kannada dubbed versions. In Tamil Nadu and Telangana/Andhra Pradesh, Ghost is unlikely to get a lot of screens, as there’s Vijay’s Leo in Tamil and Ravi Teja’s Tiger Nageshwara Rao and Balayya’s Bhagavanth Kesari in Telugu. In Kerala, although there are no big Malayalam films, Leo will be the major release, but Ghost will get decent representation, given Shivarajkumar’s current popularity in the state following his Jailer cameo. In the Hindi belt also, Srini’s film will get a good release despite being pitted against Ganpath and Tejas, because Pen Studios is handling the release . How well Hindi audiences take to a Shivarajkumar film is yet to be seen, but the response to the Hindi trailer is encouraging.

Produced by Sandesh Nagaraj, the Arjun Janya musical is an action heist thriller that unfolds inside a prison premise. The film is based on a true story that occurred in Chennai a few years ago, with the narrative playing out in a 48-hour time frame.

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