Chennai Express Vs OUATIMD: Has UTV gone back on their word to Balaji?
When two major films are slated to release on the same day, it's not surprising that there will be fireworks. However, avoiding the clash that was to be this Eid, Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Motion Pictures postponed the release of their Akshay Kumar-Imran Khan starrerOnce Upon Ay Time In Mumbaai Dobaara to the following week (Aug 15), while UTV's Shah Rukh Khan-Deepika Padukone starrer Chennai Expresscontinued with the Eid release on Aug 8 (Thursday).
A source adds "This understanding came into being post both production houses reached a mutual agreement which stated that, while UTV would book a bulk of the screens for Chennai Express on Eid, they would in turn release a certain number of screens for Balaji's OUATIMD on Aug 15."
However, with Eid shifting to Friday from Thursday (as predicted earlier), the release date of Chennai Express was shifted from Aug 8 at Aug 9. This results in Chennai Express getting a full-fledged all out theatrical run of only 6 days as OUATIMD arrives on the following Thursday (Independence Day). Shah Rukh Khan, who is going all out to promote Chennai Express would surely want his film to be registered at least amongst the top 3 grossers of this year, especially with Ranbir Kapoor sitting on the top at the moment, and losing the business of even one day could dent that possibility majorly.
Looking at all these factors, it seems that UTV has scrapped the earlier agreement of releasing certain number of screens for OUATIMD. Adds the source, "With UTV shifting the release of Chennai Express by a day, they wanted a complete 7 day run for the film. In fact they even asked Balaji to shift OUATIMD by a day. But how could Balaji give up a major holiday release day? Finally, UTV decided to not abide by the initial agreement of releasing screens for OUATIMD which has not gone down well with the big bosses at Balaji Motion Pictures."
When contacted, sources from UTV refuted the story saying, "As of now, we haven't even looked into the distribution angle, nor have we booked any screens. This entire process of booking screens will start a little before the film releases, so how can the question of releasing screens arise? Besides both films are big so we don't think that there will be much of a problem for OUATIMD or for that matter Chennai Expressto book screens." Further adding, "There was no such deal of releasing screens in the first place between UTV and Balaji."
Last month, it was Karan Johar who stepped in to break the war between SRK-UTV and Balaji to work out a mutual understanding and avoid the clash between the two biggies Chennai Express and OUATIMD. The resultant was Balaji shifting their film to the following week for an Independence Day release. But now, with the sudden death of this mutual agreement and Chennai Express taking up maximum screens,OUATIMD certainly has an uphill task once it releases. Also, team Balaji seems quite miffed with the whole situation and it needs to be seen whether Karan Johar will have to step in once again to sort this ugly situation.
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