Published On : Tue, Apr 5th, 2016

UTV throws diktat on single screens #No Jungle Book without Baaghi, Mohenjodaro and Dangal

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dangal
Known for ‘My Way or the Highway’ when it comes to booking films with exhibitors, UTV is playing the ‘dirty card’ again. The studio in question has made it clear with the single screens that they are selling a package deal of four films together- Jungle Book (April 9), Baaghi, Mohenjo Daro and Dangal. The diktat is: You have to play my film in all the four shows for at least one week after release.

The exhibitors, who are not in agreement, can go and take a walk.

A leading distributor (on request of anonymity) says, “But most exhibitors will fall in line with UTV’s order. They have four good films this year, so why not? They will manage to block the theatres.”
The reason for this diktat is simple: Kill the competition, if any.

jungle book
It’s a simple case of tussle for more eyeballs. Remember, UTV’s Chennai Express vs Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai, wherein Ekta Kapoor was forced to beat a hasty retreat simply because UTV didn’t want to brake their SRK starrer? A similar thing happened when UTV released Haider against Bang Bang. Oh, those battle lines between UTV and Fox Star which began when a large section of the UTV staff shifted to Fox Star.
rustom
This time, UTV wants to wipe out Akshay Kumar’s Rustam which is slated to release on the same day as their Mohenjo Daro- August 15.

baaghi
While there’s no other film on the day of release of Tiger Shroff’s Baaghi (April 29) and Aamir Khan’s Dangal (December 25) yet, UTV also wants to make it sure that no other producer even thinks of planning a release on those dates.

mohenjodaro