Bangalore, Aug. 16 :    Bangalore, Aug. 16:  Even as the agonising wait for the release of Kannada superstar Raj Kumar from the clutches of forest brigand Veerappan entered its third week, a substantial part of the Karnataka government and the industry remains 'hostage' to the kidnap drama. While chief minister S.M. Krishna and his crisis management group, setting aside other official duties, meet at least twice a day to monitor the situation, the entire film and television industry has gone into a deep freeze, awaiting Raj Kumar's safe return. Schools and colleges, which remained closed for two weeks, opened on Monday with worries on how to cope with the backlog; the pubs, clubs, restaurants and wine shops, which were banned from selling liquor since the kidnap on July 30, tentatively threw open their doors today with the government easing the restrictions, but the nagging uncertainty over Raj Kumar's release and the fear of violence should the thespian be harmed continues. Though small and big industries have gradually limped back to normal, postponement of proposed launches specially in the IT and energy sectors and cancellation of hotel bookings have severely dented Karnataka's carefully cultivated image under Krishna's 10-month-rule as a safe and attractive haven for investment. After the embarrassment of Nepal Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's visit to Bangalore falling through, top government sources today expressed confidence that Japan Prime Minister Yosihiro Mori's visit on Monday will go through as scheduled as 'he is not attending any public function'. Such is Raj Kumar's hold over the film industry that thousands of daily wage-earners have gone without work ever since the 'voluntary' closure. The South India Film Chamber of Commerce, which decided to shut down all cinema halls - numbering around 1,200 - and halt shooting, dubbing and editing activities to sympathise with the superstar, is now caught in a cleft stick. Though the losses are mounting, it cannot revive the activities while the superstar is in captivity without inviting the Raj Kumar fans' wrath. A rumour last week that a theatre had started showing English films resulted in about 60 motorcycle-borne fans descending on it with lathis, before the police pacified them and sent them back. President of the film directors' association Rajendra Babu said: 'We are ready for any amount of sacrifice till Dr Raj's safe return.' But the industrywallahs are privately cribbing about an 'over Rs 50 crore loss' suffered already. No less is the agony of the thriving private television channels and producers, who are forced to show re-run of serials in the absence of new material. The silver lining in the abduction drama is that though there is extreme anxiety over the inordinate delay in the release of Karnataka's icon, the people have remained peaceful. and restrained. A continuous stream of audio and video cassettes, showing Raj Kumar in good health and appealing for peace has helped in relieving the tension. Both the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments have gone more than half way in meeting Veerappan's demands and remain hopeful of Raj Kumar's early release. A designated Tada court in Mysore, which today heard the Karnataka government's plea for dropping cases against 51 of Veerappan's supporters, put off the hearing till tomorrow. Sources said they were confident that the court will favourably consider the government's initiative in larger public interest and sufficient ground work has been done to release the detenues on bail immediately to meet one of Veerappan's major demands. Tamil Nadu has withdrawn cases under the National Security Act against five persons in jail and promised to release them as soon as Raj Kumar and three other hostages are freed. Sources said about 450 pages of documents were being sent with emissary R. Gopal to convince Veerappan that both state governments were doing their best to meet his demands. They expressed confidence that 'the hostages will be set free in the next four to five days'.