Both films are going to be released this Eid and war is hotting
up in theater distribution front. As per report in Mumbai Mirror, 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.
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 in Mumbaai Again”
While Akshay’s in OUATIMA 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.
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.
UTV, Gaurav Verma, Director - India 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."
