It was a setback for Karan Johar’s big Diwali release Ae Dil Hai Mushkil on Friday afternoon as Cinema Owners and Exhibition Association Of India consisting of single screen owners asked its members to refrain from screening movies involving Pakistani artists and technicians. After the meeting, Nitin Datar, President of the association, added “We were already contemplating not screening films with Pakistani artists and now we have taken this decision."
This move comes after MNS threatened to block the release of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil that stars Pakistani actor Fawad Khan. Although the decision is not binding on the members, comprising single screen owners from the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Gujarat, Datar has said that the association would contemplate action against those who don’t abide by the decision. This would be a huge blow to a big ticket film such as Ae Dil Hai Mushkil with thousands of multiplex and single screens booked across the country. The only other film releasing that week is Ajay Devgn’s Shivaay and both films were expecting to take the lion's share of the screens.
As of now the Multiplex Association of India has not taken a decision regarding this issue. Sources in the association say that the matter has been self-resolved and a call will be taken closer to the release depending on the situation.
Meanwhile the producers of the film – Dharma Productions and Fox Star Studios have not reacted to the decision and are expected to go ahead with the release of the film as planned. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil also starring Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is slated to release on October 28th.
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