MUMBAI: This isn’t the first time that a big Bollywood film like ‘Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani’ faces the fear of not having a theatrical release. And even if the problems, between Producer/Distributors-Multiplex owners, over revenue sharing are solved this isn’t a moment of victory.
What started in 2009 seems to continue and the tussle between Distributors-Multiplex Owners, over higher revenue sharing sees no end and continues to get ugly. Ultimately it is the moviegoer who face the wrath of all this. Either by virtue of paying higher for the movie ticket, which will recover cost for multiplexes owners or not getting to watch their favourite film in the theatres at all.
The deal was that, producers would get a 50 percent cut of revenues in the first week followed by 45, 37.5 and 30 in the second, third and fourth week respectively. A two-year memorandum was signed between the Producer/Distributors and Multiplex owners and they unanimously agreed to this agreement.
With this tussle, bigger films like ‘New York,’ ‘Kambhakt Ishq’, ‘Love Aaj Kal’, ‘Kaminey’ had to wait for as long as a month, or two before getting a theatrical release. When the memorandum expired in 2011, again the problem rose and this time it were films like, ‘Aarakshan’ to suffer. And this time it was not about big films, but also with small and medium budget films and the recent ones to bear the brunt are ‘Chashme Baddoor,’ ‘Nautanki Sala’, ‘Mere Dad Ki Maruti’.
While this war between the producer/distributor and multiplex owners sees no end, it is now ‘Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani’ starring Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone, which is unsure of having a release. The advance booking for the film had not started till Thursday evening and there were talks between UTV, Dharma Production and Multiplex owners over the revenue sharing details.
Multiplex owners have refused to part with 52 percent to the distributor UTV Motion Pictures.
A leading distributor also said, “The issue should be sorted once in for all. Opening collections will be adversely affected otherwise.”
Apparently the revenue sharing works on a set model and UTV has demanded a higher rise in cut. They want the multiplex base share to be on the lower side.
Another multiplex owner also stated that it is difficult to meet the demands of UTV because of the increasing competition and reduced ticket prices.
So just when one expected that ‘Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani’ will have a bumper opening, it seems to have hit a roadblock. It is obvious, that the issue will get resolved, but we think that there needs to be a solution once in for all. At the end of the day it is business, but it is also about entertainment after all.
Will anyone ever think of movie buffs? No Show? Sorry, not accepted.
