Dilwale advance bookings 'overwhelming'

Shah Rukh Khan’s distribution company, Red Chillies Entertainment, on Wednesday claimed that the response for Dilwale advance sales in the UAE has been “phenomenal”.

It’s the first time that Khan’s company has ventured into film distribution in India and they are working closely with the local distribution company Phars Films in the UAE.

“For Vox Cinemas, we have the record breaking numbers for advance sales for any Hindi film,” said Gaurav Verma, chief revenue officer of Red Chillies Entertainment, over the phone from Mumbai. However, he did not have figures that indicated the strength of advance sales. Dilwale is up against the popular sci-fi franchise Star Wars and director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s warrior tale Bajirao Mastani.

“The response has been overwhelming ... But there’s adequate capacity for the audiences to go for Dilwale,” said Verma.

The first shows on Thursday for Dilwale, which re-unites Kajol and Shah Rukh after five years, begin as early as 9.45 am and will continue even after midnight. Vox Cinemas at Mall of the Emirates will have 15 shows screening Dilwale on Friday, while Ranveer Singh and Deepika starrer Bajirao Mastani at MOE on Friday has nine shows.

“The number of screens indicate the confidence that the distributors have in a film, while the strength of advance sales shows the confidence that the audience place on a film. These are two different parameters,” said Verma.

Last week, Dilwale stars Khan, Kajol, Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon spearheaded an aggressive marketing campaign in the UAE, with gala dinners and fan interactions at Arabian Center and Vox Cinemas at Mall of the Emirates.

“We go to cities not to just boost sales, but to create awareness of the product that we have worked for the last one year. The strength of advance bookings is also an indication of how effective the campaign has bee so far. We are happy with the response and we are excited about the D-day [today],” said Verma.

At the time of going to print, tickets were still available for Dilwale in cinemas, although the majority of the seats on the back rows were already taken.

At Reel Cinemas, “Diwale is currently ahead of Bajirao in ticket pre-sales. This has been interesting to watch as it is the first time that two huge Bollywood hits have been released at the same time and are competing in terms of ticket sales”.

“All three movies are expected to do very well,” said a Novo Cinemas rep. “The movies cater to different audiences and genres of movie watchers. Response from the patrons for advance booking has been tremendous and these movies will do well across the region.”

Local distributors Phars films were yet to provide figures ofr Dilwale advance bookings at the time of writing.