Adipurush director Om Raut shares pics of seats reserved for Lord Hanuman across theatres

Recently, filmmaker Om Raut had made a plea with film theatre owners across the country to leave one seat empty for Lord Hanuman whenever his film Adipurush is screened. Looks like many theatre owners did fulfil his request. (Also read: Adipurush review)

Keeping their promise

On Saturday, Om Raut took to Twitter to share pictures of seats reserved for Lord Hanuman. It showed seats in theatres decorated with saffron cloth, garlands, flowers and portraits of Lord Hanuman. Om Raut tweeted with it, “Jai Shri Ram.”

As per a PTI report, some were seen offering prayers, others pausing for a moment and there were, of course, those clicking mandatory selfies of the unusual sight before they settled down to watch the film. There were also incense sticks and coconuts seen in videos from some cinema halls.

A video showed a fan dressed as Hanuman greeting movie-goers outside a theatre. Another purportedly showed a man in Hyderabad being beaten up for sitting on the seat reserved for the Hindu god.

Raut’s request

At a promotional event in Tirupati ahead of the film’s release, director Raut requested the producers T Series to reserve one seat in every screening of “Adipurush” as a mark of respect for Lord Hanuman.

“Everywhere in the world, wherever there is an Adipurush show, I request the producer and distributor to keep one seat for Hanuman ji; he will come to see Ramayan,” Raut said.

Adipurush reception

Adipurush, a retelling of the Ramayana, has earned ₹140 crore at the worldwide box office, the makers claimed on Saturday. In a press note, production banner T-Series said the Prabhas-starrer has recorded “highest day one collection for any film made in Hindi on pan-India level”.

“A cinematic extravaganza, ‘Adipurush’ has created a massive impact on box office… This magnum opus has conquered hearts with a staggering opening of ₹ 140 Crores at the Global Box Office,” the statement read.

The multilingual 3D spectacle, which released on Friday amid much fanfare, stars Prabhas as Raghav, Kriti Sanon as Janaki and Saif Ali Khan as Lankesh. It is produced by Bhushan Kumar of T-Series.