Despite leading Kannada filmmaker Prashanth Neel helming a big ticket film with pan-India star Prabhas, Kannada movie lovers didn’t turn up in big numbers for ‘Salaar’(Chapter 1: Ceasefire) in Karnataka region. “The film didn’t register great openings in Karnataka state as expected," says a distributor and adds, “We were expecting Rs 2 to 2.5 crore collections from Karnataka region including Bangalore but it just garnered Rs 1.10 crore net collections in two days and it has improve drastically in the next few days," he adds.
Earlier, Kannada movie buffs have erected cutouts of Prashanth Neel and even performed milk offerings on his cutouts prior to the release of ‘Salaar’, but they were reluctant to turn up in theatres. “It had a big release in over 90-odd theatres but it managed minimal footfalls and not sensational turnout. Of course, Kannadigas were elated about Prashanth Neel moving into the list of pan-India directors and for being compared with the likes of Rajamouli. Still, they didn’t throng the theatres to cheer their favourite director,” he points out.
Actually, Prabhas became a household name in Karnataka after monster hit ‘Bahubali 2’ which made more Rs 40 crore collections in the neighbouring state. “His last few films like ‘Adhipurush’ disappointed Prabhas fans in Karnataka. We have to wait and see whether his fans will make ‘Salaar’ a big hit in Karnataka in the days to come,” he concludes.
