Will the G20 Summit affect Jawan screening in India's capital city Delhi?

Bollywood's biggest superstar Shah Rukh Khan is back in theatres for the second time this year in Atlee's Jawan. The film has created a lot of buzz in the country as it comes after the super successful Pathaan earlier this year. The film marked SRK's comeback on screen after four long years and proved to be a blockbuster and created box office history. Naturally, expectations are very high for Jawan- SRK's second screen outing this year. The film has been produced by his production house Red Chillies Entertainment and hits the big screen on Thursday.

The pan-India thriller also stars Vijay Sethupathi and Nayanthara in key roles.

Jawan's record-breaking advance booking

Jawan is the first Hindi film to have early morning shows on the day of its release. There are 5 am shows in Kolkata, a 6 am show in Jaipur and tickets are flying off the proverbial shelf. Jawan is expectedto break the opening day figures of his own film Pathaan,with insiders pegging day one earnings at Rs 700 million.

While the country gears up to watch their favourite star on the big screen in a larger-than-life character, the release clashes with the G20 Summit that is scheduled to take place on September 9-10 in India's capital, New Delhi.

Will G20 summit affect Jawan screenings in Delhi?

In Delhi, the film releases ahead of the G20 Summit on September 9-10. The summit will host several heads of state, including US President Joe Biden. While the city will remain open during the weekend, restrictions will be imposed only in some parts of the city-the NDMC area.

Sanjeev Bijli, PVR-INOX Ltd's Executive Director, spoke to PTI and said he is not worried about the theatrical business taking a hit in central Delhi because of G20 restrictions. It would mean four PVR theatres -- PVR Plaza, Rivoli, Odeon and ECX Chanakyapuri -- shut during the summit.

"They are single-screen theatres with a total capacity of about 2,000 seats so that really wouldn't have much of an impact because the loss for that will be compensated by the fact that Delhi has a four-day weekend," he said.

Record breaking first-day earnings anticipated

"People are saying that this will be an opening day of Rs 700 million, which is bigger than Pathaan. The opening day figure for Pathaanwas Rs 500 million. So hopefully it will be bigger than Pathaan,” he further said.

Online ticket booking platform BookMyShow said Jawan is off to a great start with 750,000 tickets already being booked.

Pathaan was a blockbuster, with reported earnings of over 10 billion rupees. Jawan, described by makers as a high-octane thriller outlining "the emotional journey of a man who is set to rectify the wrongs in the society", could outdo that.

The film, releasing in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, premieres at a time Bollywood theatrical releases -- most recent being Gadar 2 and OMG 2 -- are raking it in.

Mumbai-based trade expert Komal Nahta agreed with Biji’s estimate. "The situation is crazy across single-screen theatres and multiplexes both. It is difficult to predict the business. It will at least do Rs 700 millionon day one (in India)," Nahta told PTI.

(With agency inputs)

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