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Ustaad Bhagat Singh director opens up on clash with Dhurandhar 2, says it wasn’t in his hands: ‘Space for 2-3 big films to work’
Recently, the director of Pawan Kalyan’s Ustaad Bhagat Singh, Harish Shankar, addressed the mega clash between Dhurandhar 2 and his film, while praising Aditya Dhar’s craftsmanship.
Both Dhurandhar 2 and Ustaad Bhagat Singh will be releasing on 19 March.
As Yash’s Starrer Toxic vacated its planned release date and pushed itself to June 4, the makers of Ustaad Bhagat Singh were quick to seize the opportunity, moving their film up to release a week earlier than originally scheduled. This adjustment means that the Pawan Kalyan-starrer will now officially clash with Aditya Dhar’s highly anticipated Dhurandhar 2, which is also set to release on March 19.
Recently, the director of Ustaad Bhagat Singh, Harish Shankar, was asked about how he views this clash and whether he feels any nerves about going head-to-head with Dhar’s sequel. He didn’t hesitate to praise his competitor, saying in a chat with Gulte.com: “With all due respect, Aditya Dhar is a superior filmmaker. I watched Uri. He is a very impactful, very influential filmmaker. Having said that, India-wide films should consider Dhurandhar as competition. But we have our Telugu states for the film. Also, they both belong to very different genres. If, in place of Dhurandhar, it was an SRK movie, songs, full entertainer zone, then we would have thought, ‘Oh, it’s similar to our film.’ But Bhagat Singh and Dhurandhar are totally different films.”
He went on to add: “Also, it’s a collective decision. It wasn’t in my hands alone. Somewhere within, I too felt, ‘I am doing a film with Pawan Sir after so long, and for that film to compete with any other big film…’ And still, whether it’s Sankranti or summer, it’s always a combination. There is space for 2-3 big films to work. It’s not like they won’t show any other film except Dhurandhar across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.”
He also expressed his confidence in the fan base of superstar Pawan Kalyan to turn up in theatres regardless: “There’s Ugadi, and Ramzan ending the next day. All the Muslim audience members will start coming back to theatres, many of them are Pawan Kalyan fans. That’s why we didn’t panic or act in a hurry even when Toxic was postponed. We sat down, calmed ourselves, and called everyone from the CG team to the BGM team to see if they would be able to deliver in time. It was only the next day that we announced our release date.”
Dhurandhar 2 set to earn over Rs 24 crore from paid previews
Dhurandhar 2 is scheduled to release on March 19, but the makers have organised special paid previews starting the evening of March 18. Advance ticket sales have started strong and on Tuesday, as per Sacnilk, the film sold another 70,000 tickets across India, adding Rs 3 crore to its domestic box office collection through advance sales of paid previews. So far, the advance bookings stand at Rs 23.9 crore. Dhurandhar 2 is now on the verge of breaking last year’s record held by actioner They Call Him OG, which also starred Pawan Kalyan, and went ahead to earn Rs 25 crore from paid previews alone, making it the biggest Indian premiere ever.
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