SRK: Sharing release date is equal to losing out on capacity
Mumbai: The big news doing the rounds in the tinsel down is the title of Imtiaz Ali's upcoming film, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma, 'Jab Harry met Sejal,' and preponing its release date from August 11 to August 4.
This move was taken to avoid the clash with Akshay Kumar's upcoming film 'Toilet: Ek Prem Katha,' which also releases on August 11.
Speaking on the same to ANI over the phone, the Badshah of Bollywood said, "When it is about sharing that space with anyone, you lose out on the capacity to nurture a film."
"On all levels, these are capacity running films. Normally we release our films in four thousand theatres. When it is about sharing that space with anyone, you lose out on the capacity to nurture a film like 'Jab Harry met Sejal.' It is a funny unabashed love story, helmed by Imtiaz Ali, who has a special place in people's heart, as a director. The same goes for Anushka, myself, even the songs. It's a very happy film. These kinds of films do take on the capacity of the theatres available."
Adding, "Whenever you start sharing the date with some other film, due to unavoidable reason, we do lose out on that capacity. At the end we have always done really well, economically also, with the co release, but we do lose out on the capacity of the initial days. I always try not to come up with some other film, I request people the same."
Further terming 'Jab Harry met Sejal' to be a long running film, the 51-year-old actor said that the movie will not only get four holidays (that includes Rakshabandhan), but also the Independence day in the row.
"A couple of weeks back, we got a free date of August 4, which is an amazing weekend, followed by Rakshabandhan. We do get four days holiday. So we thought of shifting our film as another picture was coming. And because it is a long-running film, I believe we can make some progress during the 15th August holiday. So we will be able to take advantage of both the weeks. And it will be an easy release for both the films," he said.
When asked, whether this shift of date will be a 'game changer' in the showbiz, where clash between movie releases is a common happening, the ' Dilwale' actor promptly replies that there will still be movies releasing together at the Box Office.
"It is not going to change as going by logic, there are that many theatres and that many weeks. There are almost 200 films, sharing about 50 weeks. So there will be some films coming together. That is unavoidable actually and I don't think that's something that will change. But one should avoid if there's a chance. I mean, I have done for our film and I can talk only about it," he explained.
'Jab Harry met Sejal' sees SRK, portraying a tourist guide from Punjab while Anushka plays a Gujarati girl. Rest that follows is an unabashed love story.
The romantic drama was widely shot in Prague, Amsterdam, Lisbon and Budapest and it marks the third flick of Shah Rukh and Anushka, together after 'Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi' and 'Jab Tak Hai Jaan.'