Patna, Dec. 11: Bollywood actress and first-time producer Neetu Chandra’s Deswa opened to a lukewarm response in the city on Friday despite receiving critical acclaim at several international film festivals and a few special screenings.

The response soon picked up, though after changes in its show timings.

The standalone theatres have given the Bhojpuri flick a miss and Cinepolis is screening only two shows. While the 9am show on Friday clocked in six seats, the situation improved negligibly at the 7.56pm show with 17 viewers. The crowd has, however, picked up from Saturday. Patna girl Neetu requested the authorities to scrap the morning show and instead run two evening shows. Following the request, Cinepolis revised the timings from Saturday — 5.35pm and 7.56pm — resulting in bulk bookings and houseful shows.

Nitin Chandra, Neetu’s brother and the director of Deswa, is also thrilled. “I was confident that the film would pick up gradually, although, apart from Neetu’s dance number, it does not have any popular star. The first day response was not that great probably because people prefer not too catch the morning show during winter,” Nitin said.

He added: “Biharis living in their own state feel shy to speak their language, compared to people of other states who respect their language and are proud of their culture. This movie is an initiative to change the perception of the people toward Bhojpuri cinema. It is a complete family film with no obscenity.”

Resident Ashwini Kumar said: “Although the story could have been better, we are proud to have a clean and family film after a long time.”