Aamir, SRK Saath Saath Hain!! - An article

It was clearly visible at a meeting of bollywood producers held recently at The Club in Andheri, where King Khan and the perfectionist Khan not only met cordially and discussed the impasse but also promised to go with the decision of the producers' body not to release their films at multiplexes till the dispute was resolved.

Sources present on the occasion say that Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan met each other like old friends and there was no trace of the verbal duel that has been going on between them from the time of Aamir's 'Shahrukh is licking my feet' remark.

The buzz doing the round is that since Shah Rukh and Aamir are also owners of production companies, they well understand the gravity of the situation and preferred to keep their differences aside for the time being.

The producers and distributors have decided not to release any new films from April 4 at multiplexes till the dispute is resolved. However, the single screen theatres will also be affected, as they wouldn't not get any new films during the period as well.

The main contention of the producers is that multiplexes should give them a fifty percent share in their revenue but multiplex owners are not agreeing to it. They are willing to concede on the basis of 'performance based revenue sharing', which effectively means that if a film does not perform, the producers should agree to receive a lesser share in revenue.

The meeting was attended by Karan Johar from Dharma Productions, Yash Chopra from Yashraj Films, Ronnie Screwala and other representatives of the production houses. It was unanimously decided that no new releases will be allowed after April 4. The only exception was Akshay Kumar's '8X10 Tasveer' due to some prior commitments.

'Kambakkht Ishq' starring Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor, which was scheduled to be released on May 29, has been postponed indefinitely. Sajid Nadiadwala, the producer of the film, has decided to hold the release of the film till a settlement is reached between the warring factions.

According to an estimate the bollywood would lose around Rs 200 crore due to this strike by producers and if the strike does not end soon the loss would spiral to Rs 500 crore. The industry already feared low audience attendance due to IPL matches starting from mid April in South Africa in these recessionary times.

It may be recalled that multiplex cinemas generate around seventy percent of $ 2 billion ($1.4 billion)-a –year of bollywood. The Indian film industry is considered to be the biggest filmmaking zone in the world with around 900 films being made every year.