Mumbai: The release of Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na and Love Story 2050 this Friday will introduce two new actors to Bollywood – Imran Khan and Harman Baweja. While the former is actor Aamir Khan’s nephew, the latter is director-producer Harry Baweja’s son.
Moreover, Jaane Tu… is PVR’s presentation and Love Story is Adlabs’ presentation, both of which are exhibition and distribution companies. The competition is rife and both movies are going the whole hog with their promotional activities. They score equal at all levels but two — the length and the number of prints.
The length of Love Story (three hours) is twenty five minutes longer than that of Jaane Tu… (two hours 35 minutes) and this will help the latter in bagging one or two more shows at multiplexes than the former, feel programming heads of multiplexes like Inox Leisure, Fame and Wave Cinemas.
The second is the number of prints these movies are releasing with. Love Story is releasing with approximately 1000 prints in India and Overseas and Jaane Tu… is releasing with approximately 450 prints in India and Overseas, as of now, with further scope of increase as the release date comes closer.
According to Wave Cinemas COO Yogesh Raizada, "The opening of both movies should be at par at multiplexes. While Jaane Tu… has a fresh concept, Love Story has visual effects working in its favour." With a similar thought in mind, Cinemax has decided to allot equal number of shows to both movies at their properties.
Adlabs is giving equal number of shows to both Love Story and Jaane Tu…and PVR has opened advance bookings with one extra show for Jaane Tu…, due to its shorter length than Love Story. Depending on the response on Monday and Tuesday, the final programming schedule will be out on Wednesday.
Another differentiating factor is that while Jaane Tu… is concentrating on its release in metros and big cities, Love Story is penetrating into smaller cities as well.
Says a programming head of a multiplex chain on condition of anonymity, "Although pitting these movies against each other has created a lot of sensationalism, they would have got a better showcase at theatres had they released on different days."
