CHENNAI: Suriya’s Karuppu met with an unexpected hurdle as advance bookings were cancelled at a few areas in Tamil Nadu. While it started with Madurai on Wednesday morning, reservations were also halted in other parts of the state later in the day while some theatres in Chennai still displayed active booking status for users.

A source in the Tamilnadu Theatre Owners and Exhibitors’ Association told DT Next, “The production company has unsettled dues as of Wednesday evening. They amount to Rs 10 crore. Also the location charges for EVP studios near Chennai haven’t been settled. Taking these into account, it is highly doubtful whether the film will release on Thursday.”

However, sources close to Dream Warrior Pictures played it down and replied, “These are issues that are easily resolvable. It is being escalated for no reason. As planned, Karuppu will hit the screens on Thursday.”

The government, led by Chief Minister Joseph Vijay granted special shows for the film on Thursday and Friday, which will considerably improve the box-office opening. Producer SR Prabhu told DT Next that special shows for two days means Karuppu will get 1,000 extra shows and will help in spreading word-of-mouth reviews among people in subsequent days.

He also said that there will be a spike among the audience for evening and night shows. Prabhu also mentioned that Karuppu special show is Vijay’s first official signature for the film fraternity and the scene is pretty encouraging.