Jawan co-producer Gaurav Verma has shared how the Red Chillies Entertainment team strategised to ensure Shah Rukh Khan film gets the biggest opening of all time – Rs 75 crore net in India.
Shah Rukh Khan as Vikram Rathore and Azad Rathore in Jawan
Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Jawan achieved a historic milestone for Hindi cinema on its opening day when it collected Rs 75 crore net in India on its first day of release, which no other Hindi film had done before. In his latest interview, the film’s co-producer Gaurav Verma has now shared how the Red Chillies Entertainment team were chasing this record since the time the film was announced and hence, ensured a solo release for the film.
Also starring Nayanthara and Vijay Sethupathi in the lead roles, Jawan was earlier slated to release in the theatres on June 2, 2023 but was then postponed due to delay in VFX work. Talking to Bollywood Hungama, Gaurav said, “While working on Jawan, we knew that we were chasing a Rs. 75 crores day 1. From the very start, that was the aim. Hence, we were looking for not just a solo release but also possibly a date where there’s limited or negligible competition from a holdover release as well. We called up everyone to ask if they were coming on July 28 or August 11 as scheduled.”
Gaurav, who left Red Chillies in 2024, added how they confirmed the release dates for Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, Animal, Gadar 2, and Jailer to fix the new release date. “We checked with Karan Johar and he confirmed that he was releasing Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani on July 28. We called up Bhushan Kumar to check whether he was coming with Animal on August 11 (the Ranbir Kapoor film was ultimately pushed to December 1, 2023). Then we asked Zee Studios about Gadar 2. We also enquired with the makers of Jailer. Both confirmed that they are bringing their respective films on August 11. Then, Dream Girl 2 was supposed to release on August 25. For it, a call was made to Balaji Telefilms as well. This is how we chose a date, which was solo. Dream Girl 2 by then would have completed 2 weeks, while Gadar 2 would have completed nearly a month’s run in the theatres”, Verma revealed why Jawan was finally released on September 7, 2023.
“We also made sure that there was no release in Tamil and Telugu. This is because Shah Rukh Khan is a Pan-India star and has a huge penetration down South. So, the idea was that there should be no competition in any language and Jawan becomes the only choice. We didn’t want any interference and lose even one show as that would have affected our eventual aim (of record numbers). One or two fewer shows in a theatre would mean that the film would have collected Rs. 1.25 lakhs or Rs. 1.50 lakhs less from that cinema hall. When you multiply it by the number of shows lost across the board, it becomes a huge number, which we couldn’t afford to lose. I am glad our strategy worked and that Jawan broke all records, as was our intention”, the producer concluded.
The Atlee-directed action thriller went on to earn Rs 640 crore net in India and Rs 1160 crore gross worldwide. It became the second highest-grossing Hindi film after Aamir Khan’s 2016 sports drama Dangal that minted Rs 2200 crore globally. Shah Rukh Khan even won his first National Film Award for Best Actor for Jawan earlier this year.
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