Filmmaker Karan Johar has played a pivotal role in grabbing the best deal for the distribution of Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Raees’.
According to a report published by a leading daily, KJO told SRK to make the single theatre owners agree to give maximum screens to ‘Raees’ by making them sign a three film deal (Baahubali 2, Mirzya and Raees) through distributor Anil Thadani.
“Karan’s production company had not just presented Baahubali, but even bought the Hindi rights for the film. When SRK, Riteish and Farhan locked Anil Thadani as the distributor for Raees, Karan told Shah Rukh how to get the best deal from single-screen owners. Anil owns the distribution rights of Baahubali 2 and Mirzya so he made the single-theatre owners sign a three-film deal that he would give them these films only if they gave him maximum screens for Raees too. Now, for exhibitors, Baahubali 2 is one of the hottest releases of 2017 so they had no choice but to agree,” the daily reported quoting a source.
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This idea given by Karan seems to have worked in favour of Shah Rukh Khan, who didn’t have a great run at the Box Office in 2016. However, this deal will ring the alram bells for producer Rakesh Roshan, whose ‘Kaabil’ starring Hrithik Roshan in lead role will hit the screens on same day.
“The film will suffer badly if it doesn’t have any single-screen theatres in Mumbai. Ironically, in Hrithik’s Mohenjo Daro vs Akshay Kumar’s Rustom clash, Roshan Jr had the upper hand as UTV had ensured maximum single-screen theatres during that time,” added the source.
Though interestingly, despite having maximum screens, Mohenjo Daro fell flat at the Box Office while Akshay Kumar’s ‘Rustom’ raked in big moolah as well as garnered appreciation from the audience.
Thus, it proves that content is the king. So, only time will tell who will win the epic box office battle between SRK’s Raees and Hrithik’s Kaabil. Both the movies are slated to release on January 26 next year.
