Ajith's Vivegam has received a good opening at the Karnataka box office. The movie, which was released on August 24, has grossed Rs 6.2 crore with a distributors' share of Rs 2.9 crore in the four-day first weekend in the state.
The success of the movie has come as a shot in the arm to the pro-dubbing lobby demanding Vivegam to be dubbed in Kannada. People on Twitter have also requested the makers to dub the film so that it reaches to a large section of the audience in Karnataka.
"@directorsiva .look at the way Kannadigas hav received #Vivegam. The collection is higher than Telugu version. Pls dub the film in Kannada. [sic]" A fan request director Siva on Twitter.
Earlier, Ajith's Yennai Arindhaal was dubbed in Kannada with the title Sathya Dev IPS. Unfortunately, the movie was not allowed for release in many centres by a few anti-dubbing groups led by Vatal Nagaraj.
In the mean time, Ajith's Arrambam is being dubbed in Kannada with the title Dheera.
An unofficial ban has been imposed in Karnataka by the anti-dubbing lobby for several decades. In the 1960s, the film industry spearheaded by many cultural icons and Sandalwood's matinee idol Dr Rajkumar had decided not to encourage dubbed content in Kannada.
A few years ago, the Kannada Grahaka Koota had taken the issue to the Competition Commission of India (CCI), which passed the verdict in favour of dubbing, while terming the ban "illegal." Earlier efforts to dub movies from other languages to Kannada had met with little success due to lack of co-operation within the industry.
Although there is no official ban on dubbed content in Kannada, there has been external pressure from fringe groups on the film industry and exhibitors not to screen dubbed films.
