Cinema theatres in Kerala reopened on Wednesday with the release of Tamil movie Master starring Vijay, who has a mass following, after the State government on Monday announced waiver of entertainment tax and relief on outstanding electricity dues accumulated during their closure forced by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The film had been released in over 500 screens across the state. In most of the theatres, tickets were sold out within a few hours. Many youngsters had queued up to enter the theatres for the first show of the film at 9 am. In Kochi, Vijay fans performed milk 'abhishekam' on a huge cut-out of the actor, who is popular in the state.

Kerala has as many as 670 screens. Some theatres have not opened on Wednesday due to repair and disinfection works going on. Projectors, generators and air conditioners were not functioning in some of the theatres and maintenance works had to be taken up.

Malayalam film "Vellam" of Jayasurya will hit the screens next week, while Mohanlal's much-awaited historical war film "Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham", is slated for release on March 26. Though there were fears that there would be a lukewarm response during the initial days, however, the response has been overwhelming with 70 percent of tickets being booked till Sunday.

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