Crowd outside Regent theatre in Patna on Friday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, Jan. 14: Dharmendra fans are never shy of shaking a leg on the veteran actor’s popular song Main Jat Yamla Pagla Deewana from 1975 film Pratigya.

The song, a chartbuster, has, however, failed to draw enough enthusiasts for the latest release of the Deol family — Yamla Pagla Deewana. The film, a Samir Karnik and Nitin Manmohan production, stars Dharmendra along with Sunny and Bobby Deol and newcomer Kulraj Randhawa.

The Telegraph visited two theaters screening Yamla Pagla Deewana — Mona and Regent — where the advance booking of the film started just one day prior to the release. Mona theatre is running three shows, including morning show at 9.45am, whereas Regent is running three shows from 3.30pm onwards.

Blame it on the cold condition, but the crowd was rather thin for the first day, first show of the movie.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Vinod Singh, a spectator at Mona theatre, said: “The film is an okay comedy film with little bit of drama and emotion. It’s funny in scenes, action is real and the music is good. The junior Deols do not live up to their characters as Dharmendra does.”

Manager of Mona theatre Ajay Kumar Kataruka said: “We have lot of expectation from the film as the trio will be seen after a long time. Dharmendra, Bobby and Sunny Deol are working together after their 2007-hit Apne. Let us see what happens in the week ahead. It is the first day of the film, there are few seats booked in advance but not all. Tickets are available as per the demand.” He added: “We have expectations from every film. Advance booking cannot decide the fate of the film. Tees Maar Khan which, despite record breaking advance booking, did not do good business. We are hoping for better response to Yamla Pagla Deewana in the weekend.”

A similar trend was seen at Regent theatre. Manager B. George said: “There is no advance booking for this film for Saturday and Sunday. People are coming and buying the ticket from the counter. Show is not running houseful either. We have sitting capacity of 750 but only 50 per cent tickets has been sold for the first show. We are hopeful of getting larger crowd in the night show. Since it’s Makar Sankranti, viewers must have decided to stay at home in the morning.”

Chandan Kumar, a resident of New Punai Chowk, did not look very impressed with the film. “It’s a family promoting film. After watching the trailer I thought the film would be good but it was not up to my expectation. The film is not funny or clever. The director has tried to drag the story with long scenes which was not needed at all. It’s very sad to see a senior actor like Dharmendra working in a film which is way below his level.”

Not everyone was disappointed with the film. Shilpa Kumari, a young medical student, said: “The film is entertaining but not great. It could have done well if Bobby Deol would have not been in the film. His acting is horrible. After Gupt, none of his films have been good. He needs to improve his acting skills.”