The screening of Andhra Pradesh deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan’s latest film Hari Hara Veera Mallu was stopped halfway at a UK theatre after fans of the actor-turned-politician littered the venue with confetti, shows a viral video that has sparked a debate on different movie-watching cultures in the world.
The incident reportedly took place at Cineworld theatre when a section of the audience began throwing confetti inside the auditorium, leaving the floor strewn with litter. The film was paused midway as two staff members walked in and urged the fans to maintain decorum inside the theatre.
“Cineworld staff interrupted an Indian movie halfway after the members of the audience were making a mess,” an X user wrote, sharing the video.
The video has since clocked nearly 6 lakh views and sparked a debate around the varying standards of cinema etiquette in different countries.
Social media users largely supported the theatre staff’s intervention. “Why weren’t they thrown out?” asked one X user.
“How embarrassing. They should stop the movie and make them clean it up,” wrote another X user. “No respect for anything,” commented another begrudged netizen. Another person described the conduct as “pathetic”.
The incident has reignited conversations around differing movie-watching cultures. While celebratory fanfare like whistling, dancing, and even throwing money at the screen is not unusual at Indian cinemas, such behaviour is unheard of in Western countries.
Pawan Kalyan, the actor-turned-politician who is now the deputy chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, makes his big-screen comeback with Hari Hara Veera Mallu Part 1: Sword Vs Spirit, a period action drama directed by Krish Jagarlamudi and A.M. Jyothi Krishna.
The film also features Bobby Deol, Nidhi Agerwal, Nora Fatehi, Vikramjeet Virk, Nargis Fakhri, Jisshu Sengupta, Dalip Tahil, and Sachin Khedekar in pivotal roles.
While the film had a thunderous opening on Thursday with a collection of Rs 47.50 crore nett in India, the earnings dropped to Rs 8 crore nett on Day 2.