Subhash K Jha (DNA; July 11, 2017)

It is widely believed — and perhaps rightly so — that films exceeding a running time of two hours is looked at with wary eyes by the audiences.

Kabir did it
Lengthy films are giving their producers and the distributors the heebie-jeebies. It was for this reason that 14 minutes was snipped off from the final cut of Tubelight just days before release. While Kabir Khan complied with the marketing compulsions, Anurag Basu is not willing to budge.

Less shows
Jagga Jasoos, which opens this Friday, runs into a running-time of two-hours-and-42-minutes, making it problematic for multiplex chains to accommodate an optimum number of shows. However, Anurag is determined to keep the playing-time of his film exactly what it is.

Snip 15-20 minutes
Says a source, “Anurag is being asked to reduce the film’s length by at least 15-20 minutes. But he is not willing to relent, come what may. Even Ranbir Kapoor, who is one of the film’s producers, feels the film is long. But Anurag feels every film has to tell its story at its own pace. Aur agar iss film ki length lagbhag teen ghante hain toh kaun sa audience ko ghar jaake desh badalna hai? (and if this film’s length is nearly three hours then what is the big event that drags them away?).”