Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on Thursday reneged on its threat of stalling the release of Shah Rukh Khan’s forthcoming film Chennai Express in the State, after film director Rohit Shetty and distributor-representatives assured its chief Raj Thackeray the latter that they would not come in the way of the screening of ongoing Marathi film Duniyadari.
A day after the MNS’ film wing threatened to stall the release of Chennai Express if the distributor insisted on their film in single screens where Duniyadari was currently running to packed houses in Maharashtra, Shetty and representatives of UTV Motion Pictures — which is distributing SRK’s movie — met Raj at his Dadar residence and assured him that they would in no way contribute to the discontinuation of the screening of the Marathi movie.
Talking to mediapersons after the meeting he and UTV representatives had with the MNS chief, Shetty said, “There was no dispute in the first place. Some enthusiastic single screen owners wanted to show Chennai Express in place of Duniyadari. Since the Marathi film is doing well at the box office, we said nothing doing. let the Marathi film continue to be screened in the same theatres where they are running.”
“The arrangement we have reached is that in 19 theatres where Duniyadari is being screened, the screening will go on. Simultaneously our film will release in the same theatres and be shown at different timings. The matter ends there,” Shetty said.
Marathi film Duniyadari, a Sanjay Jadhav-directed movie that features actors Swapnil Joshi, Ankuh Choudhray and Urmila Kanitkar, hit the screens across Maharashtra on July 19. Touted as a box office hit, the film has already has already netted Rs 5 crore — a box office revenue that is considered huge for a Marathi film. Chennai Express will hit the screens on August 9.