On the evening of Saturday January 30, the Union government put out a directive that cinema halls can run with 100% occupancy. And as expected, it led to a wave of cheer among exhibitors, trade and industry at large. Post-lockdown, cinema halls were allowed to open from October 15. However, they were told to operate at 50% occupancy. Hence, alternate seats were asked to be left vacant. The exhibition sector was constantly persuading the government that running theatres at half the occupancy was not feasible. Bollywood filmmakers, too, shied away from releasing their mid-sized and big-ticket films in such a scenario as they feared losses. But with the 100% occupancy being allowed, trade is already abuzz that very soon, a slew of announcements of release dates of biggies are going to take place.
Meanwhile, Jio Studios, which was supposed to release Aadhaar on Friday February 5, have decided to postpone its release. Starring Vineet Kumar Singh, Sanjay Mishra and Saurabh Shukla, this Suman Ghosh-directed film is about the adventures of the first person in Jharkhand who gets an Aadhaar card made for him. It is backed by Manish Mundra’s Drishyam Films.
The spokesperson of Jio Studios confirmed that now the government has given the nod for full occupancy, they would want to bring their bigger films first. Hence, they have decided to push Aadhar to a later date. As per a report in a daily, Jio Studios has decided to release their bigger films like Roohi Afzana, starring Rajkummar Rao and Janhvi Kapoor and Mimi, starring Kriti Sanon and Pankaj Tripathi, first. Both these films are also co-produced by Dinesh Vijan’s Maddock Films.
On the other hand, the trade is hopeful that in a few days, the release date of the much-awaited Sooryavanshi would be unveiled. Starring Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif, Sooryavanshi is directed by Rohit Shetty and is a part of his cop universe. There’s buzz in the trade that it’s scheduled to release on April 2. A decision will be taken once the makers reach a consensus with the multiplexes over issues like revenue sharing, OTT release, VPF etc.
Also Read: Viineet Kumar starrer Aadhar to be screened at the Hawaii International Film Festival
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