You might miss your Diwali date with ‘Om Shanti Om’ and ‘Sawariya’, the ‘two most awaited films of 2007’. If you are planning to watch the film at a multiplex, that is.
Tiff over shares may pull both the movies out of the multiplexes
MUMBAI: You might miss your Diwali date with ‘Om Shanti Om’ and ‘Sawariya’, the ‘two most awaited films of 2007’. If you are planning to watch the film at a multiplex, that is.
In fact, all multiplexes in the country have stopped screening promos of the film and have also pulled down its posters. The reason? ‘Sawariya’s’ distributor Sony and ‘Om Shanti Om’s’ distributor Eros are asking for a share of 60 per cent as opposed to the 48 per cent share normally demanded by distributors of all other movies.
Devang Sampat from Cinemax says, “Both, Eros and Sony have got together and are forcing their demands on the multiplexes. If we give in to their demands, we will incur huge losses.”
However Sampat confesses that, not screening two of the most awaited movies ‘Om Shanti Om’ and ‘Sawariya’ will also mean losses both for the distributors and multiplexes.
“If the movies are not screened at the multiplexes it will be a bad situation. These are the only two big movies releasing during Diwali (November 9). I must say that the distributors are being unfair. They usually recover their expense in a week’s time. We take really long to recover our expenses,” says Sampat.
The distributors tell a different story. They say that they are only asking for a particular share from the sales of the tickets and are not looking at sales proceeds from fast food sales of popcorn, ice creams etc.
The negotiations are were on for two days but both the parties were unable to reach at a solution. Manager from another city multiplex says, “We waited for two days but realised that the discussions are not going anywhere hence we removed all publicity material from our multiplexes. I feel that the distributors are demanding way too much.”
Now the news is that both the parties, distributors of both the films as well as the multiplexes will be meeting to discuss the problem during the weekend. Most believe that a settlement will be reached soon.
Vikramjit Roy from Sony couldn’t offer a solution but confirmed that they are not looking at any other release date.
d_riddhi@dnaindia.net
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