City to crack Code a week late

Film gets censor nod, is all set to hit the screens next Friday.

Negative publicity does have its perks and the producers of The Da Vinci Code will agree. The film, which got a censor clearance on Thursday and is likely to hit cinema halls next Friday, is generating a lot of interest in Mumbai.

Enquiries about the film’s release kept pouring in at cinema halls across the city. "The controversy notwithstanding, the film appears to have created a buzz because it is based on a bestselling novel," said Devang Sampat, marketing manager, Cinemax chain of multiplexes. The Da Vinci Code was to be premiered at Cinemax, Versova on Thursday May 18. However, the plans were scrapped after Catholic groups in the city demanded a ban on the film.

"The movie will surely benefit from the book’s popularity and will bring in audiences," said Uttam Bikhchandani, general manager, Inox, Nariman Point. Bikhchandani added that at the multiplex the queries about the film’s release date began last month. Meanwhile, bookstores in the city have reported a 25 per cent hike in sales since the controversy broke out. Peddlers at traffic signals and railway stations are also doing roaring business, handing out the pirated versions of The Da Vinci Code for as little as Rs50.

"Everyone seems to be buying this book these days," said Ramesh Patil, who sells pirated books at a traffic signal in Andheri. Patil claims to have sold around four dozen copies in the last two weeks.