Sandalwood is furious over Karnataka government's new rule for theatres. In view of the rising number of coronavirus cases in the state, the Karnataka government on Friday announced a 50pc cap on occupancy of seats in theatres across eight districts. This has upset not only theatre owners but also fans and the film fraternity of the Kannada industry.
It is a known fact that Kannada Power Star Puneeth Rajkumar's latest movie Yuvarathnaa hit theatres on Thursday. The movie raked in impressive collections at the box office on its opening day much to the delight of fans and the makers. However, their happiness was short-lived as the government decided to play spoilsport.

The Karnataka govt urged theatre owners to restrict theatre occupancy to 50% its original capacity. This move has angered the entire industry with Kannada actors coming out in the open to express their disppointment over the injustice meted out to Puneeth Rajkumar's Yuvarathnaa.

The film opened to fantastic reviews and fans and trade analysts were hoping that the movie would create some new box office records. However, with the new rule, the movie's collection is bound to take a beating.

Sandalwood actors Kichcha Sudeep and Duniya Vijay were among the first ones to express their shock over the government's decision. While Sudeep said 'we have to respect govt decision', Duniya Vijay said it would have helped if the govt had given the Yuvarathnaa team a heads-up before making such drastic decisions.

"This is gross injustice to Yuvarthnaa team. We would never have released had we been told two days about the government's decision to halve the theatre occupancy."

Yuvarathnaa stars Kannada Power Star Puneeth Rajkumar, Sayyesha, Prakash Raj and Dolly Dhananjay in key roles. The movie is directed by Santosh Anandrram and produced under the Hombale films banner by Vijay Kirangdur.