Posters of the film at Regent Theatre in Patna on Thursday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Dec. 1: The oomph of Vidya ‘Silk’ Balan and the peppy beats of Ooh la la… have set the city on fire. The The Dirty Picture mania has gripped every nook and cranny of the capital, with tickets for the first weekend of the much-talked about film selling like hot cakes.

The censor board has attached an ‘A’ certificate to The Dirty Picture, which implies that the film might loose out on attracting families to theatres together. Despite this, demand for tickets is exceptionally high. Twenty-four hours before the film gets released, 900 seats have been booked at Cinepolis, the lone multiplex theatre in the city.

Regent Theatre, located near Gandhi Maidan., will screen five shows a day. “On the first day of booking, tickets for the shows, except the morning show, have been booked in advance. The last two shows of Saturday are also booked, while there’s a huge number of group-bookings for Sunday’s matinee show,” said Suman Kumar Sinha, owner of the theatre.

He, however, had some words of warning for the “over-enthusiastic minors”. “There will be strict checking at the entrance gate and youngsters below 18 will not be allowed to watch the film. But, one interesting point is that most of the viewers are young and they are really eager to watch the film.”

Suman added that the tickets of the film would be priced higher compared to tickets of other films. “A ticket will cost Rs 20 extra. Instead of Rs 160, a viewer of The Dirty Picture will have to shell out Rs 180. But the morning show tickets will be charged the usual Rs 100,” he said. Abhishek Ranjan, manager of Cinepolis Patna, told The Telegraph, “The ‘A’ certificate will not have any impact on the film’s prospects. There’s a huge rush for tickets and group bookings are also much in demand. We will strictly follow the censor board rules and will not allow any person below 18 to watch the film.” He added, “Despite the restrictions, the tickets are selling like anything. Sensing the mood of the audience, we have opened bookings for three days to avoid the rush. We are not booking tickets for Monday onwards to avoid heavy rush.”

The excitement among the viewers was evident at the long queues at the booking counters of Cinepolis. “I am anxious to see Ooh la la on big screen. Vidya is looking gorgeous in the film. Besides, I have heard that she has come up with a bold performance. I have really liked way Vidya performed in the song that is already leading most charts. Her expressions are superb,” said Vaibhav Kumar, a resident of Patliputra.