Gaurav Dubey (MID-DAY; May 27, 2015)

The Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma-starrer Bombay Velvet is being pulled out of several city theatres to allot screens to more commercially successful films like Tanu Weds Manu Returns (TWMR) and Piku. In most cinemas, daily shows of the Anurag Kashyap movie have drastically been reduced as it had been struggling to find audience since its release on May 15.

Manoj Desai of G7 Multiplex says, “Many theatres have been cancelling Bombay Velvet shows due to its poor box office collection while devoting more screens to TWMR and Piku. We are running just about one or two shows of Bombay Velvet everyday.”

A trade source says Bombay Velvet was one of the most awaited films of this year and its box office performance has been way below expectation, adding: “The film has big stars and was made on a humongous budget, but the audience occupancy in most theatres has been dismal from day one. Piku, which released a week prior to it, is still doing good business.”

Vishal Anand of Fun Cinemas says the film’s collection has dropped consistently and with crowd pullers like TWMR and Piku, they had no choice but to cut down the number of shows for Bombay Velvet. “There are a few people who want to watch the film, so we still have a few shows running at our theatre,” adds Anand.

Trade analyst Amod Mehra feels it is curtains for Kashyap’s magnum opus. “Very few shows had been allotted to it, but due to want of audience, many have discontinued those too,” he avers.