EXCLUSIVE: Baby John producer Murad Khetani clears air on show-sharing talks with Pushpa 2: "We're asking for reasonable 50-50 allocation in single screens"

Since Thursday, there have been reports that Pushpa 2 – The Rule’s distributor Anil Thadani and Baby John’s distributor PVR Inox Pictures are having a tussle over show-sharing. Yesterday, Bollywood Hungama reported that the advance booking of Baby John, starring Varun Dhawan, is yet to open in several cinemas as PVR has asked for 60% of the shows for their film and 40% of shows for Pushpa 2 – The Rule. Reportedly, the distributor of Pushpa 2 and even some exhibitors have reservations about this arrangement.

Bollywood Hungama exclusively spoke to Baby John’s producer Murad Khetani on Sunday evening (December 22) and he clarified these reports. He also assured that the advance booking for the film would begin across the country on Monday, December 23.

Murad Khetani began by saying, “There’s no issue. MovieMax, Miraj, Mukta etc. have also opened advances. There were some little things that needed to be taken care of, regarding programming. We need to go step-by-step and it takes time. Our distribution team has been working on it. Everything can’t be closed and arranged together.”

There were murmurs that PVR Inox had started the booking of both Baby John and Pushpa 2 – The Rule for December 25 while other chains were not allowed to do so, leading to a first-mover advantage for PVR and Inox cinemas.

On this, Murad Khetani clarified, “The other multiplexes follow the programming pattern of the national chains. That’s why PVR, Inox and Cinepolis opened first. PVR Inox is distributing the film. Other chains wanted to see what PVR Inox is asking for and are also implementing similar showcasing in their own theatres. This is the reason why PVR Inox opened the advances first. The idea was to convey to other multiplexes that ‘Look, we are also giving so many shows to Baby John. We’d want you to follow suit’. By doing so, they made it clear that they are not asking for many shows for Baby John while not doing the same in their multiplexes.”

He continued, “In other words, the intention was never for PVR Inox to open the advances so that they get the advantage over other multiplex chains.”

When asked about an update for show-sharing in the single screens, Murad Khetani replied, “We are working on it as we need to take a lot of factors into consideration, including the film’s run time. Some single screens are okay with show-sharing while some are not. By Monday, December 23, it’ll be sorted. We are being very reasonable. We are asking for 50-50 show sharing. And if some theatres play 5 shows a day, then we are asking for 3 shows.” He added, “By tomorrow (December 23) hopefully, Baby John’s advance will open all over India.”

What’s the screen count for Baby John? Murad Khetani informed us, “We are looking at releasing the film in approximately 3000 screens.” Will there be a paid preview for the film from the evening of December 24? He said, “There are no such plans.”

Also Read: Varun Dhawan makes SHOCKING claim: Baby John star reveals “wife of a powerful man” stalked him, broke into his house; says, “She thought I’d leave my family for her”

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