"The multiplexes have cheated us in the last minute and are pressurizing us to give them a deal which is not possible", says Neil in a hurt tone.
Major multiplexes refused to screen 'Aa Dekhen Zara' since they could not come to an agreement with Eros (producers of the film). This time around, the issue wasn't around revenue sharing terms but something else.
Apparently, multiplexes wanted Eros to commit for 'Kambakkht Ishq' (Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor) and 'Love Aaj Kal' (Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone) in advance before the release of 'Aa Dekhen Zara'.
However, Eros didn't want to break producers' unity and chose to talk only about 'Aa Dekhen Zara'. This led to a deadlock between the two parties.
"But this is sheer arm twisting by the multiplexes", says a depressed Neil, "Why to bring in a movie into this kind of a loop when it is releasing before the 4th April onwards strike. This is really frustrating."
Well, his cry hasn't really been heard by the multiplexes since major chains like Big Cinemas, Cinemax, Fame Cinemas, Fun Cinemas, Inox Leisure, PVR Cinemas and Movietime have refused to play the film. As a result, the film has released only at single screens and some small/newer multiplexes.
"All I can tell people is that go watch it in a theater near you because it is such a well made film. Yes, it's a loss for all but you can help fill in this loss by being as united as we have been about out stand for the film", says Neil whose film has fetched average to decent reviews.
A few years back, 'Dhoom 2' too had faced an issue when it came to it's multiplex release. However, after a week, it had seen a full fledged release across all multiplexes throughout the country. Same happened for 'Tashan' also a year back. One hopes that for Neil's sake, history repeats itself and 'Aa Dekhen Zara' finally reaches out to it's audience.