The Bahubali of the box office is here.
Bahubali: The Conclusion, the sequel to the 2015 blockbuster - Bahubali: The Beginning - will be opening to packed houses on Friday and those who were thinking of booking tickets for this weekend have to wait till Monday to get a few leftovers.
The ticket scene in both single screen theatres and multiplex are the same. Slotted for 35 shows in Patna at Regent Fun Cinemas, Mona, Elphinstone, Sushil Plaza and Cinepolis, most of the early shows are already houseful.
The S.S. Rajamouli-directed 2015 magnum opus has created such a buzz that people are willing to pay as much as Rs 600 for a ticket for the concluding part of the epic drama. In 2015, the Rs 180-crore film had collected Rs 650 crore worldwide leaving behind a question: " Katappa ne Bahubali ko kyon maara? (Why did Katappa kill Bahubali)".
The sequel promises to solve that mystery.
A few tickets available at the Cinepolis multiplex till 3pm on Thursday were being sold at Rs 320. At single screens, tickets were being sold for "black" in the range of Rs 450 to Rs 600. Shows would start as early as 8.45am on Friday for the first time; the first show in Patna usually starts at 9.30am. Tickets which cost a maximum of Rs 270 would cost Rs 320 for Bahubali in a multiplex.
The shows in Regent, Mona, Elphinstone and Sushil Plaza are houseful till Sunday. As soon as the ticket counters opened on Thursday, 730 tickets were sold in half an hour in the four theatres.
Regent Fun Cinema has done a sound system makeover especially for the Bahubali sequel. "For a film like Bahubali, sound is crucial," said Suman Kumar Sinha, chairman-cum-managing director of Regent Theatre Pvt Ltd.
Banker Divya Bharti will be watching the film with her colleagues. She had booked eight tickets for the 7.10pm Friday show at Cinepolis. "The film was supposed to release in October 2016 but it was postponed. I can't wait to watch the film. We wanted to watch it in the first half of the day but couldn't manage an off," Bharti said.
When asked if she is comfortable paying a premium for the film, Divya said: "It's a very small price to know why Katappa killed Bahubali."
At Cinepolis, 90 per cent of the tickets for the 8.45am Friday show flew off the counters by Thursday morning. The theatre management said they have not seen such craze even for a Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan or an Aamir Khan film.
Bahubali: The Beginning, an Amar Chitra Katha-styled story of warring kings, captive queens, a mystical kingdom and a spirited romance, was a box-office hit. A cliff-hanger ending to the first film meant fans have been waiting with bated breath for the sequel.
Bahubali 2 is opening in 9,000 screens worldwide in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, the highest for an Indian film so far. The advance booking of the film is better than Salman's Sultan and Aamir's Dangal.
"People are going crazy to watch the film and that's the reason we have decided to start the early shows as well. Due to the scorching heat, people are avoiding coming to the counter and most of the tickets are being booked online," said a unit manager at Patna Cinepolis.
The rush is also because everyone wants to watch the film in the first weekend.
"In the past couple of weeks hardly a good film had released. We have very high expectations from Bahubali. It would be a wholesome entertainer," said Sharad Gupta, the manager of Mona and Elphinstone theatres.
