It has been 18 long months that the Indian theatres have been shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic and things have been downhill with the entertainment industry ever since. And now, after a long wait the theatres have finally announced their opening in Maharashtra.
And along with that many production houses have already booked the dates on which they would be releasing their films. Well, having stated that we must not forget that the world hasn’t ye seen the end of COVID and with the regular incessant positive cases still are ongoing in the country, we aren’t really sure if things are going to remain the way they are and whether the country won’t really see any more lockdowns in the near future.
Amongst all the films in line the first film that will see the light of day is Rohit Shetty’s two-year-old Sooryavanshi that stars Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn in the lead roles. According to an ETimes report, the makers of the film have already started calling the theatre owners to tell them that theirs will not share screens with any other release on the same day, i.e. 5th November 2021, which happens to be Diwali. The theatre owners have relented to the demands of the makers because according to the same report, they are well aware of the fact that on Christmas another Ranveer Singh starrer ’83 is all set to hit the screens.
It has also been reported that this created a problem for Salman Khan, Varun Dhawan and Aayush Sharma starrer Antim and Marvel films’ Eternals because both of these films too were to be released on the same day.
It was during a conversation with Sunil Wadhwa a film distributor, who is also distributing Sooryavanshi in Mumbai who confirmed that Sooryavanshi will have a 100% occupancy in the cinema halls on 5th November. The report quotes him as saying, “”We welcome the decision of the Maharashtra State Government to reopen cinemas from October 22 and it has given us immense pleasure to announce our most awaited film of the year ‘Sooryavanshi’ as a Diwali release for not only the exhibitors but also for the moviegoers who were waiting for a big tentpole film. We are awaiting the SOP guidelines for Maharashtra based on which our distribution strategy will be planned. In lieu of the above, all exhibitors have given us their solidarity to showcase ‘Sooryavanshi’ with 100 percent screen space, in fact in other states where cinemas have already reopened there is still a big chunk of cinemas which will open only with ‘Sooryavanshi’.”
Zee Studios CEO Shariq Patel revealed that they haven’t yet decided on the release date for Antim, “We haven’t decided on the date. When we do so, we shall announce.” We told him that it had been reported that they had zeroed down on November 5, but Patel countered it by saying, “Woh toh kuch na kuch aata rehta hai (Things get written about),” Shariq told ETimes.
According to another source of the same publication Marvels will not budge with the release dates because they are having a worldwide release for their film, “They might not budge putting up a reason that their movie is having a worldwide release. But we wonder where it will find a place in India? Multiplexes have all locked ‘Sooryavanshi’ all the way for Diwali 2021.”
The same source also told the publication that it is justifiable for Reliance to ask for a 100 percent occupancy because they held their film for a long time to get it released in cinema halls instead of giving it off to the OTT platforms.