Thiruvananthapuram lukewarm to Udta Punjab in on Day 1

<[email protected]>THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Controversies, social subject and even the name of producer were of reasons for the city folks to watch the movie, ‘Udta Punjab’ on the first day of its release. But that did not give the film a packed audience in any of the theatres where in the film was released on Friday.<br /><br /><br />After the first screening of movie directed by Abhishek Chaubey in the first show, all the viewers could say was that they enjoyed the film.The film given A certificate by Censor Board was released in Kairali, Sreekumar and Ariesplex SL Cinema on Friday.<br /><br /><br />For Anathu Krishnan, a graduate in engineering, it was the controversy regarding the film that led him to watch the movie on the first day itself, while for Shilpa R, a home maker and movie buff from Hyderabad who watches the films on first day of its release films screening, it was a movie she could not miss.<br />“I did not find any objectionable content in the film for not receiving A certificate from Censor Board. It was brave attempt for the director to take up such a subject which needs to be heard more. I liked the story of the character played by Alia Bhatt,” said Shilpa.<br /><br />Apart from the controversy, the name of co-producer of film Anurag Kashyap also drawn a good number of crowd to the movie on its first day. Sreeranjini G who came with her friends about an hour prior to the opening of the ticket counter at Sree Kumar Theatre, said that the movie is co-produced by Anurag Kashyap, who is her favourite director.<br />“I am fan to Anurag Kashyap and have good expectations from the film. Since it’s speaks of the social issue of drug abuse, I decided to watch,” said Sreeranjini G, a fourth year BTech students from CET.<br /><br />According to theatre manager of Kairali theatre, lack of publicity led to the poor turnout. “It was only in the evening on Thursday, that it was decided to screen Utda Punjab. The lack of publicity of its screening could have led to the poor audience on day one, but the weekend are expected to be houseful. All the crowd gave a good report of the film,” said D Satheesh, theatre manager.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the best feature film award winning movie in Kerala State Film Awards Ozhivu Divasathe Kali received a good audience for all shows on day one on Friday. The movie directed by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan was screened in Nila Theatre.<br /><br />“I missed the screening of the film,Ozhivu Divasathe Kali, in International Film Festival of Kerala which I was told is a political satire. I was waiting for its theatre release considering the subject that the films focuses. So when I came to know about that the release of political satire in the city, I decided to watch its first show on the first day,” said Reshmi BS, technical assistant at Kerala Agricultural University.<br /></[email protected]>