Wednesday, 16th December 11:55 PM IST
High Court To Decide Single Screen Versus Eros Case Regarding DILWALE Versus BAJIRAO MASTANI Clash
The biggest clash of the year is now 2 days away and buzz around the event is tremendous. Trade expert to movie buff to common audience are going berserk about this much awaited clash between two biggies 'Bajirao Mastani' and 'Dilwale'. But today things took ugly turn.
'Dilwale' has received tremendous response from audience in advances. Plus 'Dilwale' is distributed by in Mumbai by people who have clout among single screens. So today sizable number of single screens have backed out from their previous agreement with Eros which they signed during release of 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan'.
Reportedly Eros has sot back with a case. Tomorrow evening High Court will decide whether single screens are right in doing so or Eros is right to force single screen owners to play their film. Still majority of single screens have not opened advances as programming remains undecided.
Eros has warned that in case of backing out from the agreement they will not get any future films from corporate but single screens know that its not possible in long term as it does not make business sense.
So which single screen owners have been called at Bombay High Court for violating the contract? A source says, "This morning, Rahul Aksar (who is also a distributor of Dilwale) opened the advance booking of the SRK starrer in his Churchgate theatre Eros. Inder Raj Kapoor did the same in his theatre Excelsior. A few others like Vinay Choksi (Gaiety, Galaxy) were about to follow suit. News reached Lulla, who swung into action to safeguard his interests. Lulla did no wrong because Aksar and Kapoor have at least 300 single screens between them in Bombay Circuit. If they are allowed to get away, many other players will also jump onto the bandwagon."
So, where do Aksar, Kapoor & Co go from here? Says the source, "These guys will fight the case based on the loopholes, if any, in the contract. If they lose the case, they will have no option but to release only Bajirao in all four shows."
The contract was violated simply because single screen owners have developed cold feet over releasing only Bajirao. Reveals the source, "If Dilwale does well and Bajirao does not, they would stand to lose a lot of money. That's their worry. And who wouldn't like to safeguard his business interests?"
A leading exhibitor (on request of anonymity) adds, "Tomorrow's Bombay High Court verdict will play a substantial role in the collections of both films. This heady clash is getting interesting by the minute."
We will only come to know tomorrow whether 'Dilwale' and 'Bajirao Mastani' will share two shows each in these single screens or 'Bajirao Mastani' will grab all four shows.