Get ready for Eid, says SRK to his Chennai Express team?
Mehul S Thakkar (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 8, 2013)
It’s official now. Shah Rukh Khan has staked his claim to the most coveted release date of the film calendar, which has been monopolised by Salman Khan so far. Chennai Express will be flagged off on the day of Eid, on August 8. This is the first time in years that SRK will release his film on the auspicious day that has seen Sallu storm the box office with Wanted, Bodyguard Dabangg and Ek Tha Tiger. With SRK traditionally dominating the Diwali slot, it was an unwritten code between the two stars that one will not eye the other’s favourite time of the year. But trust SRK to throw caution to the wind.
The date for Chennai Express was finalised at a meeting held in Wai yesterday. Mirror has learnt that Shah Rukh, who has been camping there for weeks now, called the various stakeholders to the set. Among them were distributors, members of the production house, Rohit Shetty, Farah Khan, who has choreographed a song for the film, and music directors Vishal-Shekhar. “Interesting thing about the conclave was, one did not know about the others who had been summoned,” said a source. SRK, who was in a jubilant mood, broke the news to all present. “Get ready for Eid!” he reportedly said, to whoops of delight.
That Chennai Express would eventually release on Eid, had become increasingly apparent over the past few weeks. Salman’s Sher Khan, announced as an Eid release, was shelved. His Mental is unlikely to get ready by that time. Bhansali wisely moved Ram Leela away from the collision course, to avoid a repeat of the OSO-Saawariya story. That kept the slot open for Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Again. Now that’s hardly competition.
It remains to be seen if Salman’s luck rubs off on his arch rival.
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0 
0ye kya bakwas chal rahi hai
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0 0And so it begins
UTV clubs Himmatwala and Chennai Express for single-screen theatres in a bid to edge out Akshay’s Once Upon a Time
The day Shah Rukh Khan announced that Chennai Express will release on Eid (August 8) alongside Akshay Kumar’s Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai-2, the countdown to a full-blown war between the two stars had begun.
It is round one, and producer UTV of Chennai Express has decided to employ the same tactic as Yash Raj allegedly did last year with Jab Tak Hai Jaan.
Readers may recall, Yash Chopra’s swan song had hit the theatres on the same day as Viacom18’s Son of Sardaar, whose producer Ajay Devgn had complained to the Competition Commission of (CCI) saying YRF had violated competition rules by forcing a bundle deal on theatre owners (Ek Tha Tiger and Jab Tak…). CCI had dismissed Devgn’s complaint. Ironically, this time, UTV is firing from Devgn’s shoulder.
It goes like this: UTV has sounded out single-screen theatre owners that if they want to buy Devgn’s Himmatwala, which is releasing on March 27, and is essentially a singlescreen film, they will have to devote all four shows to Chennai Express as well.
Confirming the development, Pinky Badlani of Kasturba (Malad) told Mirror, “YRF has set the trend. Now, UTV is doing it. It seems they just want to kill the prospects of Once Upon A Time….” Vinay Choksi of Maratha Mandir-Gaiety-Galaxy echoed his sentiments while Kalpesh of Diamond (Borivli) too admitted to be aware of UTV’s strategy.
Asked if they are adhering to UTV’s conditions, Badlani said, “I will do exactly what other single screens do. I will not sit on the fence.” Added Choksi: “We will waitand-watch.”
While Akshay’s in Once Upon… comes on the back of the successful Rowdy Rathore, Shah Rukh appears in an all- new avtaar in Chennai Express. “It’s an interesting battle alright,” says trade analyst Taran Adarsh.
“Festive season or otherwise, ideally no two big films should release on the same day. Business suffers across plexes and single screens. In this case, it will all depend on how many shows each film manages to get in single screens. If UTV has its way, Balaji will lose about Rs 2.5 crore,” says a leading distributor (on request of anonymity).
Nitin Datar, vice-president, Cinema Owners’ and Exhibitors’ Association, said, “At the end of the day, every exhibitor will decide after weighing all the pros and cons.” Datar refuses to call this UTV’s ‘blackmail’ but does not condone the strategy either.
“Frankly, such rules should not be laid down by any production house,” he said.
When Mirror contacted UTV, Gaurav Verma, Director – Distribution, Disney UTV, replied: “This is not true at all. We enjoy long and mutually beneficial relationships with all our exhibition partners, and as a studio we have developed these relationships over the years with a steady supply of high quality content. There is no need at all for us to link the screening of one of our films with another, especially with films of the scale and magnitude of Himmatwala and Chennai Express.”
Balaji CEO, Tanuj Garg chose not to comment.
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0 2but akshay is a biggerstar than sharukh his fanssay. so why cant they do the same to chennai express as akshay does dozens of films. they shud offer outima, boss, thupakki remake all in a package deal and finish chennai express.
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