Sikhs do the bhangra at the pre-release screening. Picture by Amit Datta

The 350-plus Sikhs cheering for Akshay Kumar’s Happy Singh on Thursday night at 89 Cinemas (Swabhumi) epitomised the community power which can well make Singh is Kinng the biggest Bollywood blockbuster ever.

While it may take a few more people for that to happen, the initial impetus may help the Anees Bazmee action comedy, the only Hindi film release this Friday, to beat Shah Rukh Khan’s Om Shanti Om as the highest grosser of all time.

In terms of number of prints and count of shows, Singh is Kinng has already edged past Farah Khan’s OSO. Of the 1,800 prints producer Vipul Shah has despatched across the world (OSO had around 1,500), 30 physical prints and 40 digital ones have been allotted to Bengal. That was enough to account for as many as 80 daily multiplex shows, of which 20 are playing at Fame (South City) alone and 14 each at INOX (Forum) and INOX (City Centre).

“It is amongst the largest releases in Calcutta and certainly the highest number of plex shows ever,” says Arun Mehra, the director of Kapurchand Films, which is distributing Singh is Kinng in east India.

Katrina Kaif, the film’s leading lady, had told Metro: “I don’t want Singh is Kinng to do well... I want it to do extraordinarily well.” From the look of things, Katrina’s wishes are likely to come true.

For starters, Singh is Kinng has already got a whopping number of 30-plus block bookings across all the city multiplexes, even before the first-day-first-show on Friday. The special paid previews of the film on Thursday night have all gone completely full with more shows added on demand. And the advances for those 80 plex shows everyday have been “incredible” for the first weekend.

“It’s an absolute hysteria,” says INOX (Forum) general manager Vikas Syal. “And despite so many shows, a show every 45 minutes at Forum, the tickets are just flying off.” Adds Abhishek Raina, marketing head of Fame Cinemas: “In the last couple of months Singh is Kinng has become a much-talked-about brand. Now whether the brand translates to deliverables also, we have to wait and see.”

That’s exactly what the Sikh community wants to do — make the brand work. The bhangra dances and dhol play that preceded the Thursday night preview screening at 89 Cinemas will be a regular fixture all this weekend at the INOX plexes, specially performed by the Rangla Punjab troupe.

Says DJ Saranjit, who was part of the Sikh gang watching the movie on Thursday night: “The atmosphere was electric as it turned out to be much more than just a movie screening. We hope that Singh is Kinng turns out to be a kind of movement for all of us and becomes popular everywhere.”

The only hurdle for this Singh is Kinng rage can come when two new films release next Friday. While the Amitabh Bachchan-Salman Khan-Priyanka Chopra-starrer God Tussi Great Ho looks a dated rehash of Bruce Almighty, it is the big Yash Raj Films release Bachna Ae Haseeno with the hot pair of Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone that can spoil the Akshay-Katrina party.

“Yes there is a buzz, but Bachna looks more of an urban multiplex film and shouldn’t disturb Singh is Kinng’s overall run,” adds distributor Arun Mehra.