Big release planned for Saawariya

By: Taran Adarsh, IndiaFM
Wednesday, September 19, 2007

What does one look forward to this Diwali? Fireworks, of course! With Eros announcing a 2,000 + screen release for Shahrukh Khan and Farah Khan"s Om Shanti Om, everyone"s curious to know the release strategy international giant Sony Pictures are adopting for Sanjay Leela Bhansali"s Saawariya.

Talks are rife that Sony Pictures, the producers/distributors of Saawariya, are pitching Bhansali"s latest outing as an international film by giving it an extensive release, not just in India, but also in the international territories.

However, Uday Singh of Sony Pictures isn"t commenting on the exact number of prints [reportedly, there"re whispers that they haven"t booked the theatres yet]. “Let"s set the record straight! We"ve already booked 250/300 single screens in India. Yes, we haven"t booked the multiplexes yet, but that should happen soon. The screen count will keep increasing as the release date draws nearer," he clarifies.

What about the international release? “We"re targeting the Indian diaspora in the first round," he states, “Even Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Monsoon Wedding opened with minimal prints, but the numbers [movieplexes] grew after they found acceptance internationally. Saawariya will be released like a big-budget Hindi film internationally, but we will increase the screens in phases. We will tap the non-traditional markets in phases, not at one go," he enlightens.