'Salaar' producers have withdrawn the release of the film at PVR and Miraj theatres in specific southern states according to Bollywood media report.
There are speculations that theatres in the North are showing favouritism towards ‘Dunki’. ‘Salaar’ team is unhappy seeing the unfair distribution of screens in North India, says the report. According to Times Now, Homable Films Chaluve Gowda confirmed they will not be releasing ‘Salaar’ in PVR and Miraj outlets in certain places as they claim unfair treatment. Homable said, “This also implies that we will not be releasing ‘Salaar’ in South in the outlets of these national chains. They have even blacked out Salaar from certain outlets and given it fully to Dunki. We want the game to be fair. If however these exhibitors change their itinerary, then we shall definitely release our films in their outlets.”
This has placed pressure on national media chains to ensure equal space for both ‘Dunki’ and ‘Salaar’. National chains will have to go through a huge revenue loss if they don’t address the issue.
Shah Rukh Khan starrer ‘Dunki’ releases on December 21, while ‘Salaar’ is scheduled to release a day later on December 22. Talking about the clash, Prithviraj Sukumaran, who plays significant role in the film shared with ANI, "It's a holiday season and we are all film lovers, we're getting to see a Rajkumar Hirani- Shah Rukh Khan's film and a Prashanth Neel-Prabhas film; we all should be celebrating. I am so excited, I am going to watch both films first day. It's a holiday season and film lovers have two great films to watch. What a fantastic sign-off for a grand 2023 it would be if both the films go on to become blockbusters which I am sure they both will. I am looking forward to it."