This Is First: After The Flop Verdict, Now Kabzaa Director Throws New Trick In The Ring, Blames Exhibitors

Kabzaa, the much-awaited period action film in Kannada language, is reportedly facing a slow run at the box office. The film was released last week amidst high expectations, featuring a star-studded cast including Upendra Rao, Kiccha Sudeep, Shriya Saran, and Murali Sharma. However, the film’s director, R Chandru, has blamed Multiplex owners for tampering with the film’s quality, leading to a poor performance.

The film premiered in theatres on March 17, 2023, and was released in five languages-Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi-in 4,000 theatres nationwide. Director R Chandru has expressed concern that theatre owners may remove the film from their screens if it fails to generate revenue. He stated that he would monitor the film’s performance and make necessary changes in places where it is not doing well.

Furthermore, the director alleged that Multiplex owners purposely reduce the volume of films to save on electricity expenses, which ultimately affects the film’s success. He claims that by reducing the audio frequency of a film from 5% to 3.5%, Multiplex owners save around Rs 10,000. According to him, they deliberately switch off two speakers to save money. He added that he had heard of several such cases before and that he would try to intervene and stop such practices in the future.

“Almost 3K to 4K theatres are used for screening Kabzaa. Everyone has watched the film by now. I will see the graph where the films are doing well and not. It’s unnecessary. I don’t want to make it 50 days and 100 days. The money invested should come back. I told my distributors on the phone places having no collection could remove my film. And places having collections may add a few more shows,” he stated.

The film’s poor performance at the box office has disappointed many fans who had eagerly awaited its release. However, the director’s allegations against Multiplex owners have raised questions about the transparency of the film industry’s revenue and distribution systems. It remains to be seen how this issue will be resolved and whether Kabzaa will recover from its slow start at the box office.