JTHJ vs SOS all over again?

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 India (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 - 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 Himmatwalaand Chennai Express."

Balaji CEO, Tanuj Garg chose not to comment.