A crowd waits outside Regent for a Bodyguard show on Wednesday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Aug. 31: Id has brought a bounty of happiness for theatre owners in the city, riding on the shoulders of none other than Salman Khan.

The Bollywood superstar’s gift for this year’s Id — Bodyguard — has proved a boon for cinema owners after few turned up to watch Sanjay Dutt’s Chatur Singh Two Star and Ram Gopal Verma’s Not a Love Story.

The craze for Salman Khan’s latest outing as Kareena Kapoor’s bodyguard was palpable in the state capital. Regent cinema has even decided to halt all previous releases and run Bodyguard for the next one week in six shows starting 9.45am.

When The Telegraph visited Regent after the end of the first show at 12.30pm, the crowd for the next show could hardly wait Salman score a hat-trick after Dabangg and Ready.

Bakarganj resident Mohammad Sheikh said: “Sallu bhai is looking dashing in the film, paisa wasool hai boss. He has given us the most precious gift on Id, as nothing could have been better than this. Salman’s character of Lovely Singh defines that he is fit for any kind of role. The way he guarded Kareena Kapoor’s character Divya is full of humour. It is so lively that I was at the edge of my seat throughout the film.”

Abhishek Jaiswal, a resident of Rajendra Nagar and a proprietor by profession, had also turned up to watch Bodyguard on the first day. He said: “I knew that Salman would again rock the theatre with this film, after Dabangg and Ready. Whatever he does on screen is accepted, even his style of dancing, which is always different than others. He has done some crazy numbers in this film too.”

Special treatment is also meted out to residents turning up to watch the film at Regent. Suman Kumar Sinha, the theatre owner, said: “The audience are getting free gifts on the purchase of every ticket and this will continue for the next one week. Free cold drinks will also be served for the next one week. We are also giving special gifts to residents who are booking online tickets on Id.”

Sinha added that all shows for Bodyguard is booked till Sunday.

Cinepolis, meanwhile, is running 14 shows on its four screens and several residents reached the multiplex after offering their namaaz in the morning.

Patliputra resident Rakhi Mishra said: “Shirtless Salman always looks good on screen, and if Katrina Kaif is a part of the film, the value of the film increases automatically. Although she is not there in the whole film, her single item number was more than enough. This movie is full of entertainment and has excellent comic scenes with Kareena fooling Salman’s character.”

Cinepolis country head (exhibition) Ashish Shukla said: “Bodyguard has given us a good opening. Sixty per cent tickets have been booked for the next three days in advance. We are hoping that the crowd will increase in coming days and that is the reason we have decided to run 14 shows.”

He added: “Salman Khan films are always special for his fans and releasing the film on Id was not the biggest gift not only for them but for us too.”