Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 14, 2020)

In conversation with Mirror, Dinesh Vijan talks about releasing Angrezi Medium on Friday amid coronavirus scare. Even as major markets closed down one after another later in the day, the filmmaker says he understands that it’s an unprecedented situation and hopes people will wait to see his Irrfan Khan-starrer in theatres...

At a time when Rohit Shetty has indefinitely pushed the release of his cop-drama, Sooryavanshi, featuring Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Ajay Devgn and Ranveer Singh, it was a brave decision to go ahead with Angrezi Medium as scheduled.
We had no option as the film had already opened in the UAE-GCC market on Thursday, when the Chief Minister of Delhi (Arvind Kejriwal) announced shutdown of theatres later in the day. Had we known three-four days ago that this would happen, we might have had time to rethink the release, but on Thursday, it was too late to pull back.

You and your studio partner, Jio, were locked in a closed-door meeting which went on till close to midnight on Thursday. At one point there were reports that certain theatre chains had been instructed to stop advance booking…
Advance bookings had started on Wednesday itself. Even in Delhi, tickets had been sold. When the government order came, it took us an hour or so to align ourselves with the unforeseen developments. After that, the discussion was on how best to put it out. As I said, it was too late to stop the release by then as we had already gone live. Also, the overseas prints had been dispatched and KDMs (code for digital projectors) issued to theatres across India. However, despite everything, the film has opened well all over. It has been appreciated by critics and the audience alike.

Going by early estimates, it should do double the business of Hindi Medium on the opening day. This, despite the fact that business is down by 30 per cent after the corona scare, and we’ve lost another 40 per cent from Delhi, which is a big market.

What about overseas?
Dubai has opened very well. Friends of Sutapa (Sutapa Sikdar, Irrfan Khan’s wife) who saw it there, informed us that the theatre was 90 per cent full, and the audience was laughing and crying and generally enjoying the film. It’s a father-daughter story which will tug at the heartstrings. But 80 per cent of our expected business was from home. And after Delhi, Jammu and Kerala, there were orders to shut down theatres in Bihar, Karnataka and UP, though the UP CM has left the decision to the theatre management. The big hit was when Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur were also declared out of bounds.

I understand that the government is taking these steps in the larger interests of people, and I personally want everyone to be safe. Still, it’s sad that a good film has come in the eye of a storm. In my 20 years as a producer, I’ve never faced a situation like this. There have been shutdowns in one or two territories, but this is an unprecedented situation.

Can you claim insurance for the no-shows?
Yes, we are covered by insurance.

How are you taking this personally?
I made this film for Irrfan and no matter what, it will be a journey I will cherish all my life.

How is Irrfan taking it?
I think he’s beyond all this. I spoke to him this morning and he’s happy those who have seen it are appreciating the film.

In the current scenario is piracy a concern?
It’s always a concern but those who visit theatres, go for the experience. And I hope they will return to them when they reopen. As Irrfan said in the teaser, I hope they will wait for us.