The much-awaited Pawan Kalyan-starrer ‘Gabbar Singh' hit screens globally and if one were go by the first day reports about the film, it was house-full all the way. It was screened in about 900 screens just in Andhra Pradesh.
Telugu cinema aficionados in over half-a-dozen countries and several States in India including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Maharashtra, had their eye-full of their favourite ‘Power Star' with the leading lady Shruthi Haasan and the ‘Abhimanyu' villain who has begun to get noticed in tinsel town.
In a dozen cities in the USA and key locations in the United Kingdom, apart from Australia, Singapore, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, Kuwait and Dubai among other places in the Gulf, there were premiere shows.
Excitement
In the twin cities, the excitement that is common to such big releases was very much evident in places like RTC crossroads with fans garlanding their hero's cut outs and breaking coconuts, while dancing to the music of director Devisri Prasad who repeated the magic of ‘Jalsa'. At the end of day one of ‘Gabbar Singh' being screened across the world, producer Bandla Ganesh and director Harish Shankar of ‘Mirapakai' fame were ecstatic.
Their elation was not without reason for it has been a while since a Pawan Kalyan film was received this well. Critics across several media recalled ‘Jalsa' of 2008 and ‘Johnny' of 2003, among the best of the 20-odd films that this ‘Power Star' has starred in. The filmmakers claimed it had created new records in Bay Area of California in the USA for the highest collection in a premiere show. On Thursday night itself, 10 shows were screened in San Jose, Milpitas and Fremont.
This is just the third film of director Harish Shankar after ‘Shock' and ‘Mirapakai'. Speaking to The Hindu , Shankar admitted to being a fan of Pawan Kalyan for as long as he could remember. “And given such a scenario it is the ultimate as-far-as-I-am-concerned,” he gushed, going on to sing praises of the actor and his modesty while working with him since December 4, 2011 on ‘Gabbar Singh'.
