Dunki starring Shah Rukh Khan, Tapsee Pannu and directed by Rajkumar Hirani has opened worldwide on 21st December, 2023. The movie has been anticipated to be a huge blockbuster for both Hirani and SRK. The combination has been long time in waiting and happened after 20 years of Hirani’s debut. In fact, Hirani stated multiple times that he wanted to work with Shah Rukh Khan for his debut Munnabhai MBBS.
In an interview for Dunki promotions, he also stated that he wanted to cast Shah Rukh Khan in his movie, as soon as he graduated from Film School. He stated that he was impressed by SRK way back from the actor’s debut television series, Circus days. The movie released in clash with Salaar Part-1: Ceasefire starring Prabhas, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Shruthi Haasan, Sreya Reddy, Jagapati Babu and others. Movie is directed by KGF franchise fame Prashanth Neel.
Team announced a Part-2 for Salaar and named it as Salaar Part-2 Shouryanga Parvam. Until, 28th September 2023, the original Salaar release date, the fans of SRK and Prabhas have been silent. They concentrated about their respective actor’s films. Salaar team postponed the release of the film to 22nd December, 2023. It pushed Dunki, to 21st December, a day before the original schedule.
As the release dates came closer, both teams have been said to be using their own disruptive measures to gain upper hand over the other. Salaar team has decided to not screen their movie in South Indian markets if they don’t get good amount of shows in North Indian markets despite a big bollywood film. This has inflated the clashes between Shah Rukh Khan fans and Prabhas fans on social media.
Few Bollywood people have been stating that big films are using Corporate bookings to inflate box office numbers. Salman Khan fans have tried to bring down Pathaan and Jawan collections by using “Corporate bookings” as the reason big opening day records. Dunki, did not open for 40 Crore or 50 Crore first day opening Nett gross. The producers, Red Chillies Entertainment also released Worldwide gross numbers stating Rs.58 crores gross. They did not look to inflate the numbers.
On the other hand, Salaar team has given out paper ad for 180 crores and then gave a poster of 178.7 crores gross on social media. This has intensified the fan groups clash. As the team announced Rs.402 crores gross, worldwide in 3 days and trade numbers stated 302-320 crores gross, SRK fans started showcasing the inflated numbers and trolled Prabhas, Salaar team, mainly Hombale Films – the production house.
In retort, Prabhas fans and Salman Khan fans started saying that Dunki is also using Corporate bookings by showcasing a screen where viewers are low and the film is being played. They claimed that the show is being shown as full on ticket booking sites. Now, in response to all this, SRK fans showcased Early Morning Shows for Hindi version of Salaar being added to all across India.
Corporate Bookings are those bookings at theatres where one brand or one corporate office bulk book a screening. If people attend the movie screening or not that money is added to overall collections. To inflate box office numbers, Bollywood producers are said to be doing this by using the brands that collaborate with them during the first weekend, opening day and first week.
In fact, some people have started stating that even fan clubs are being sponspored by production houses to bulk book a screen. So that, the movie collections will increase and other people will be influenced to watch the movie, for the fear of missing out. Some housing societies, schools, college social groups come together to organise a screening and bulk book a show or two.
Well, this trend has been said to be catching up in Bollywood. Naysayers state that Pathaan, Jawan, Gadar 2, Adipurush teams have resorted to such practices. Now, on some booking sites, National chains have reported to be showing those Early Morning Shows for Salaar in various towns and cities as early as at 6:30 AM. In reality, those shows are “absent” and no one commissioned them. SRK fans are stating that Hombale and Hindi distributors are doing “Corporate bookings”.
On the other hand, Prabhas fans are stating that it is some conspiracy by someone who wants to showcase Prabhas and Salaar in bad light with these baseless manipulations. East Godavari Distributor has stated that they will take legal action has they did not allow any early morning show for Hindi version of the film in their theatres. Well, the truth behind these allegations of “bulk bookings”, “absent shows”, “Corporate Bookings” are helping both the films to be in limelight for all negative reasons.
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