Not screening Ae Dil Hai Mushkil will be our loss, say Indian cinema owners

Fawad Khan-starrer set to be released as planned in Delhi

Delhi cinema owners and exhibitors have decided to take a stand against IMPPA's call for the ban on Bollywood films featuring Pakistani artists.

They believe that Diwali is the biggest week of the year in terms of box office success and with so much buzz around Ae Dil Hai Mushkil starring Fawad Khan, not releasing the film is their own loss.

The mushkil of ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’: To release or not to release

"Cinemas earn a bomb during this festival, and it's not the Diwali day, but the Diwali week, that rewrites box office history. The festive releases are the ones that tickets are sold out for days in advance. Agar hum yeh film nahin dikhayenge toh kya dikhaye?, (If we don't show ADHM, then what else should we show?)," says one of the exhibitor Tinku Singh, reports Times of India.

"Why would we not screen movies? It's a Karan Johar film - isn't the investment in the movie that of an Indian? We will show the film in our cinemas across all territories unless there is a blanket ban on the film or the government decides to stop screening of all such films.

Unless we find ourselves in such an impossible situation, the films will be screened," says a corporate head of one of the cinemas, Yogesh Raizada.



Delhi's exhibitors and multiplex owners further said that they are not part of the Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI), the supporter of IMPPA's demand. Although major cinema chains, such as PVR and Cinepolis, have refused to comment on the situation, insiders claim that not releasing the Karan Johar film will result in major losses.

Therefore, India will indeed see the release of ADHM, unless the I&B Ministry supports the ban. The final fate of ADHM will be decided by COEAI on October 14.



"The meeting will be attended by multiplex owners, producers and distributors. The agreements have been signed, so if we don't release the film, the distributors will claim losses from the exhibitors. But if we release the film and local parties vandalise theatres, who should be held responsible for that? It's a really tricky situation for us and we have to find a solution," says COEAI's president, Nitin Datar.

ADHM also starring Ranbir Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Anushka Sharma is slated to release on October 28.

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