At the start of this year, a number of theatre associations urged Salman Khan to release his upcoming film Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai in theatres since they have been facing huge losses in the post-pandemic period. Khan had promised to release the film only in cinema halls.
However, he is unable to keep his word because of the deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the film is releasing in theatres, very few states in the country have allowed cinema halls to operate. So, although the film is being released simultaneously in theatres and on over-the-top (OTT) platforms, the box-office numbers of the film won’t be much to talk about.
“I apologise to cinema owners who were hoping to earn profits with the release of this film. We waited as long as we could, hoping that this pandemic would end and we would be able to release [the film] in theatres all over the country. But that did not happen. We don’t know when things will go back to normal,” he said during a Zoom chat with journalists.
Khan is aware that Radhe’s theatrical run won’t fetch the makers much money. “The box office collection of Radhe will be zero. This will be the lowest ever for a Salman Khan film. Let people be happy or sad with that. It is releasing in very few cinemas in India. Overseas also the number of theatres are less than usual. So the box office collection will be very poor,” he said.
Advance bookings had started in places such as Hyderabad where the theatres were running at 100% occupancy. However, on Tuesday a lockdown was declared in Telangana, so the film will not be released in the state.
But in spite of this, the superstar discouraged people from watching the film in theatres.
“Some people have booked auditoriums and are planning to screen my film, which I won’t encourage because I don’t want people to say ‘Coronavirus got spread because people went to see Salman’s film'. Once this pandemic is over and theatres reopen, if people like the film, we will try to release it on the big screen,” he said.
Directed by Prabhu Deva and also starring Disha Patani, Randeep Hooda and Jackie Shroff, Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai will be released on 13 May on a pay-per-view basis on Zee Premium and will also be available on Zee5 and various direct-to-home (DTH) services.