'Baahubali' Kerala Release: Theatre Owners Call Off Strike; Expect Another Box Office Wave after Nivin's 'Premam', Vikram's 'I'

The controversy surrounding the release of "Baahubali" in Kerala has come to an end, now that Liberty Basheer, president of All Kerala Exhibitors Federation, has announced that the strike of theatre owners will be called off on 11 July (Saturday).

With more theatres opening on Saturday, trade experts believe that "Baahubali" will create yet another box office wave in the state, similar to that of Tamil film "I". Most of the theatres will release "Baahubali" in Tamil and a few screens will release the Telugu and Malayalam versions.

As per reports, nearly 25 theatre owners were not happy with the federation's decision to go on a strike and were ready for the release of "Baahubali" on Friday. This has also led to rift among the members of federation, which had reportedly forced Basheer to withdraw the strike.

Meanwhile, the producers association has warned that Malayalam film industry will not have a single release till Onam (August end) if the Exhibitors federation continues their stand on the release. As the issues surrounding the association and Malayalam cinema has reached a point of conflict, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishanan, Minister of Cinema, has called for a joint meeting of all the association on Monday.

In an interview with Manorama News, Basheer asserted the fact that the federation's protest was purely against the piracy involving "Premam" and that the protest has nothing to do with the release of the other movies.

Meanwhile, it must be noted that the cancellation of shows has led to a huge loss for the distributors and theatres. 

Meanwhile Rajmohan Unnithan, chairman of Kerala State Film Development Corporation (KSFDC), added that he does not justify the move of closing down theatres as a protest against piracy issue as this will incur only loss to producers. He also pointed out that wide release is the best solution to curb piracy.