Mahanati
MahanatiTwitter

Director Naga Ashwin's Mahanati starring Keerthy Suresh has been allegedly leaked on some torrent sites and the full movie download is likely to take a toll on its collection at the worldwide box office.

Mahanati is one of the most talked about Telugu film and it was released in the cinema halls on May 9. A notorious gang, which is known for its alleged activities online, recorded the complete film during its premiere in a foreign country on Tuesday and released the full movie for download on its websites even before its first show completed on its opening day – Wednesday.

The pirated copy of Mahanati got spread to other websites within no time. The makers, who had taken precautionary measures to curb its piracy, got into action immediately and were successful in taking the film from some websites. But they could not clean its pirated copy from the internet due to some challenges.

The bosses of Vyjayanthi Movies took to Twitter to request the viewers and wrote on May 11, "#Mahanati is an honest attempt to tell the story of legendary Savitri garu to generation to come. We thank audience for making it a grand success. We appeal not to encourage piracy & experience it in theaters as a mark of respect and tribute to the great woman - @VyjayanthiFilms."

The distributors could not get enough number of cinema halls for Mahanati to cater to massive demand, as old releases like Bharat Ane Nenu, Rangasthalam and Naa Peru Surya were still holding many screens. Some viewers apparently resorted to downloading the film due to its unavailability in their nearby theatres. This partially affected its collection at the box office.

Mahanati has collected approximately around Rs 40 crore at the worldwide box office in its 9-day extended first week. The movie has recovered 100 percent of its distributors' investments and earned profits. However, the distributors have gone on to increase its screen count in Mumbai, Pune, Gujarat and Delhi in its second week. The bosses of Vyjayanthi Movies informed the details of its new screens on Twitter.

Nirvana Cinemas, who is its international distributor, informed that Mahanati is released in Singapore on May 17 The distributors tweeted. "For movie lovers in Singapore, sorry we couldn't screen in the first week due to delay in Censor certificate. #Mahanati is opening from Thursday and here is the theater list. Enjoy the movie on big screen. Stay away from piracy! @VyjayanthiFilms @SwapnaCinema @KeerthyOfficial."

Nirvana Cinemas has also increased the screen count of Mahanati in the US. The distributors tweeted on May 13, "We are looking to add new locations from next Thursday for #Mahanati. Few of them listed below. Will publish the final list Tuesday. 1. Olympia, WA 2. Columbia, SC 3. Tracy, CA 4. El Paso, TX 5. Florence, KY 6. Westbrook, ME 7. Green Bay, WI 8. Roseville, CA

Also Read