Director Siva’s Suriya, Bobby Deol, and Disha Patani-starrer Kanguva is no underdog. Produced by KE Gnanavel Raja of Studio Green, Vamsi Krishna Reddy, and Pramod Uppalapati of UV Productions, it is getting a wide release across the country. Yet, the troubles the film has gone through seem on par with those of an indie release.

The project, initially announced in 2019, was shelved due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Revived in 2022, the film is touted to be one of the most expensive Indian films ever, with a budget of ₹300-350 crore, according to Financial Express. However, there are five hurdles the film must overcome during release.

Madras High Court asks ₹20 crore to be deposited

An old legal issue from 2011 reared its head when Gnanavel had entered into an agreement with the late Arjunlal Sunderdas to produce a movie by investing ₹40 crore each. An Official Assignee, who took over after Arjunlal’s death, filed an application asking the court to modify an order passed on August 12 that Kanguva can be released on depositing ₹1 crore. Now, justices G Jayachandran and CV Karthikeyan ordered that the film cannot be released on Thursday if ₹20 crore isn’t deposited by Wednesday midnight, according to The Hindu.

Tamil Nadu government refuses permission for early shows

The film's producers requested the Tamil Nadu government to bend its 11 am show rules and allow Kanguva to be screened at 5 am. The state government refused, agreeing to five shows per day, with the earliest showing at 9 am and the night show ending by 2 am. States like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, and Kerala will have earlier shows than TN. Given that collections during early morning shows in the first week usually add well to box office collections, it remains to be seen how much the film makes on day 1 in Tamil Nadu.

Advance bookings rolled out late across country

Even though the film’s team took the 9 am shows as a win, advance bookings did not open until Tuesday afternoon. Fans were miffed, given that late openings sometimes affect film opening numbers. The multiplexes only opened bookings for the film much later on Tuesday evening, and the Hindi bookings were opened even later. Even as the film’s producers asked people not to ‘spread negativity,’ many seemed miffed at the slow rollout of shows as opposed to dropping them all at once.

Telugu release faces distribution issues

While Andhra Pradesh bookings seem to be going smoothly, Kanguva faces a hurdle in the Nizam circuit as of Wednesday morning. Mythri Movie Makers, which acquired distribution rights for the film in the region, is now facing challenges in scoring a decent number of screens. As Varun Tej’s Matka gears up for release on the same day, taking up numerous screens, sources claim that Mythri has had disagreements with Asian Cinemas and PVR over profit-sharing terms. The parties haven't reached an agreement yet. Bookings for the film are yet to be opened in theatres owned by Asian Cinemas and PVR.

Unexpected competition from Sivakarthikeyan’s Amaran

When the makers of Kanguva postponed release from October 10 to November 14, they avoided a clash with Rajinikanth, Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Vettaiyan. However, there’s one clash they didn’t anticipate - Sivakarthikeyan, Sai Pallavi-starrer Amaran. The biopic was released in theatres on October 31 for Diwali and has done well at the box office. The film is still going strong, crossing the ₹250 crore gross worldwide mark, continuing its dream run. It remains to be seen if Kanguva will dent Amaran’s collections or vice versa.

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