JAWAN: ‘HIT’ ON THE BOOKING, EMPTY IN THEATERS.

The Shahrukh Khan starrer Hindi movie ‘Jawan’ got released on Thursday, September the 7th. Directed by Atlee, the much awaited movie also stars Nayanthara, Vijay Sethupati, Deepika Padukone & Sunil Grover besides several others. At a whopping Rs. 300 crore, the movie is being touted as the most expensive SRK film yet.

‘Jawan’ hit theatres worldwide on September 7 in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. At many places in metro cities, several of the theatres were full houses and the SRK fans were seen creating events to mark the occasion. However, in most of the other theatres, the situation was just the opposite. Empty theatres greeted the audience who looked shocked to no end.

Observed a middle aged man outside a Mumbai multiplex, “I work in a school as a teacher. Since, it is Janmashtami holiday today, I wanted to visit the movie theater with friends. Many of us, including myself, haven’t seen a movie in a theatre since long time. When I wanted to book the tickets for me and my friends, there could be seen fewer seats left on the app. It was natural for a SRK movie. We hurriedly booked our seats. But, upon entering the theatre, our surprise hit the roof, as there were empty seats all over inside the hall. Even after the interval there was no major change in the situation. This is a big scam!”

Another group of viewers who liked the movie as an entertainer, lamented the gaping difference between the booking situation on the app and the reality inside the theatres. One of them remarked, “Many of my friends could have easily bought the tickets and come to watch the movie, but for the full house as shown on the app.”

Similar sentiments found their way on Social Media platforms. A social media user @MeenaDasNarayan wrote X (formerly twitter) ,”@nsitharaman madam, Bollywood films have started a new formula where they say advanced tickets are booked much ahead when the theatres are shown as 3/4 empty, eg #Jawan ..public believe this is a method of showing it as a huge success and allegedly money laundering happening, we would request the gov to check if this is a scam it happened with #Brahmastra #Pathan #AdiPurush and this @narendramodi @PMOIndia @AmitShah @myogiadityanath @himantabiswa.”

There were other X users posting status of the empty houses from Aurangabad, Surat and many other places, mostly tier II cities. Some of these posts have gone viral on social media.

There was also a surprising post on X which even claimed that the user was being pressurized to delete his negative comment about the movie ‘Jawan’ and an offer of rupees ten thousands. Indiainput.com could not independently verify the authenticity of the claim therein.

By the way, the movie is already in the middle of a controversy. There have been calls to boycott the movie ‘Jawan’, owing to Udayanidhi Stalin’s association with the movie. Red Giant movies. a film production and distribution company backed by Stalin Jr has now associated with the movie. It may be noted that Stalin Jr, who is a DMK leader and a minister in the Tamilnadu cabinet has attracted criticism due to his highly irresponsible statement on Sanatan Dharma, equating it to Dengue & Malaria and the call to eradicate it. A failed actor himself, Stalin Jr is at the receiving end of widespread criticism, due to the controversy that may do no good to the recent SRK starrer. Red Giant movies is distributing the movie in Tamil. ‘Boycott Jawan’ is trending on X, formerly known as Twitter, with angry posts and reactions. One twitter user wrote, Hit Udayanidhi where it hurts. Time to eradicate him, his faith and his ideology. They are not suited to a free and democratic society.