Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; October 14, 2017)

Besides Saif Ali Khan’s Chef, last week witnessed the release of Tu Hai Mera Sunday. While Khan’s desi adaptation of the Jon Favreau film by the same name failed to please mass audiences, the Shahana Goswami and Barun Sobti-starrer, on the other hand, was appreciated for its interesting storyline and deft direction. The positive reviews notwithstanding, director Milind Dhaimade is struggling for his slice-of-life film to find appropriate show timings.

“We have unanimously received good reviews; people want to watch our film. But, it has been given poor show timings — as a result, my film is unable to reach the masses,” he tells mid-day.

Dhaimade is appalled to see exhibitors continuing to screen Chef, despite it running to empty theatres. “I met the distributors and exhibitors a few days ago, to discuss the situation. The exhibitors refused to give us better screen timings — this, when the other film hasn’t been faring too well. Their concern is that if they allot the evening shows to my film, the audience won’t turn up. I am sure they will, given the excellent word of mouth.”

For all its talk about content being king, the director believes that this episode proves how the industry is unabashedly biased towards stars. “It’s sad that films with good content aren’t pushed adequately. If we are not allotted proper screens, how do we draw the audience? And then people complain that good films are not made. Are we providing a conducive environment for such content to thrive?”