Amitabh Bachchan in a still from Sarkar Raj: A special charm Ananish Trivedi and Krishnendu Mondol, who braved the bandh for Sarkar Raj. Pictures by Aranya Sen

After beating up Bollywood baddies all his life, Amitabh Bachchan beat a bandh in Calcutta on Friday. For everyone who boarded a bus or an auto, hired a taxi or walked to Paradise cinema for the first day, first show of Ram Gopal Varma’s Bachchan baap-beta-bahu package, the pull of Sarkar Raj was clearly stronger than the fear of Mamata Raj.

It started as a trickle with people coming in twos and threes, but the crowd grew into a sizeable one — 120-odd — by the time the opening credits began to roll.

Paradise had sold advance tickets for the film two days ago despite knowing of the bandh, and was pleasantly surprised by the response. “We sold many tickets for Friday’s noon show on Wednesday evening, long after the back-to-back bandhs were announced,” manager Amar Bahadur Singh said.

Roxy and Moonlight screened the film, too, possibly setting a trend for future bandh days.

New Market cloth merchant Amit Sonkar, who has rarely missed seeing a film starring Papa Bachchan on the day of its release, said he “came running” on hearing that the Paradise noon show was on.

Manoj Awasthi came from Tollygunge by auto and bus to check whether Paradise would screen the film at 6pm and was delighted to see people already there for the noon show.

“There is a special charm in watching the first show of an Amitabh Bachchan film, especially on a bandh day,” the bank employee said.

It wasn’t only male fans of the Bachchans who risked retribution from the Trinamul Congress brigade for a dekko at Sarkar Raj. The crowd at Paradise had several women, including an all-girl group that may have derived more enjoyment from defying the bandh than actually watching the film.

“We were lucky to get a taxi. It’s good that we are watching the film today. Who knows if we’d have got tickets later?” wondered homemaker Vineeta Singh.

Behala resident Arun Singha, who usually doesn’t take out his scooter on a bandh day, did so for Sarkar Raj. “I came to know that the film would be screened just an hour before the noon show. I hopped onto my scooter, didn’t think twice and sped to Paradise,” he said.

Avanish Trivedi came from Tollygunge because he thought “sitting at home wasn’t a great idea”. That Varma is his favourite director was an added incentive to go to the hall on a bandh day.

None complained about being harassed on the way to the hall. Krishnendu Mondol took an auto, then a bus and eventually walked some distance to the hall. “I faced no trouble on the way,” he said.

The film’s distributor, Parvez Aziz, hinted that three halls going ahead with the first show on a bandh day was a better start than he had hoped for.