The Mohanlal starrer ‘Odiyan’ bore the brunt of the ‘hidden hatchet’, as the title suggests, of the BJP’s dawn-to-dusk hartal in Kerala on the day of its big release on Friday.

The movie, which became the first Malayalam film to be in the Rs 100-crore pre-release league, saw a few theatres cancel screening on Friday. The exclusive show for Mohanlal fans at 4.30 am in theatres also turned into a damp squib.

A few theatres in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode cancelled the show. In front of a theatre fans gathered to protest. Earlier, supporters of the hartal called to protest against the death of an Ayyappa devotee on Thursday over the Sabarimala issue came to the theatre and said the movie should not be screened during the hartal. Theatre management assured the fans of screening after 6 pm.

Mohanlal fans and movie buffs had been waiting for long for the release of Mohanlal movie ‘Odiyan’ where Prakash Raj, Innocent and Manju Warrier were among the cast.

Mohanlal appears in three different forms in the movie that is all about black magic done by ‘odiyans’ (covert assassins) during the past, especially in Malabar region.

Director VA Shrikumar Menon admitted that the shutdown did affect the opening day’s release. However, he was hopeful that things would return to normal on Saturday.

The cancellation of the screening in some theatres was to prevent any violence by hartal supporters. Many of those who booked tickets much in advance were forced to stay at home as it was risky to venture out in private vehicles on hartal day.

Mohanlal fans flooded Facebook pages with a campaign with hashtag ‘standwithOdiyan’.