The much-anticipated preview screenings of Dhurandhar The Revenge didn’t go as planned across multiple cities, with shows abruptly halting at interval as the second half failed to reach many cinemas. Disappointed moviegoers, who had booked the film’s previews in advance, had to either wait 1.5-2 hours for the film to start, watch it begin after the interval, or leave as the film failed to resume in most cinemas. “I had booked a 7.30 pm show in Noida, and when we came out during the interval at 8.30pm, we found that moviegoers who had come for the 5pm show were also waiting for the post-interval version of the film,” a moviegoer shared.

When we spoke to the exhibitors, they refused to comment on the issue and said they had tried their best to ensure that moviegoers could watch the film, but it was not possible in some cases due to technical glitches. 

At some screens, the situation turned almost humorous, as moviegoers actually called the police to complain that the film was not being played. Police officials had to intervene to calm down furious fans, telling them, “It’s not the cinema’s fault; they don’t have the film.” Hassled cinema managers claimed, “It’s not that we don’t want to show a film; it’s just that we don’t have one.”

Issuing a statement, PVR clarified, “To everyone who stayed back and watched the film despite the delays – thank you for your patience, warmth, and love for cinema. It truly means a lot to us. To those whose shows were delayed or cancelled, we sincerely apologize. We understand how disappointing it feels when something you were looking forward to doesn’t go as planned. We wanted to share a clearer update with you: Delays happened due to content-related challenges in certain locations beyond our control. Cancellations occurred as regional language versions were not made available by the production side, as also shared on their official platforms.”

The film didn’t reach most screens in time, leaving audiences angry. The delivery to digital service providers like UFO Moviez happened at the very last minute. Usually, it is done two days before. Insiders say there were multiple instances of things going wrong for the preview content not reaching in time and, in some cases, the second half of the film not reaching cinemas at all. The paid previews were scheduled to start at 5 pm, and digital cinema providers received the content post 1 pm.

An insider says, “Content was delivered somewhere around noon yesterday, and shows were meant to start at 5 pm. The fact that shows could happen at many places at 5pm itself is a miracle. It speaks volumes about the efforts and hustle that the distribution team and digital cinema providers put in to maximize the number of shows that could at least play.”

Another industry source added, “With just a 4-5 hour lead time between when the content was provided and the release, it had to be distributed across more than 6,000 screens in less than five hours something that can only be described as extremely challenging.”

Moviegoers across cities say that it was chaotic as they had to wait for long hours for the film to start after interval or for the refund. A manager shares, “Fans were not leaving even after being told that we were issuing refunds. Some moviegoers waited for over five hours for the post-interval screening.

In Mumbai, most Hindi paid preview shows of Dhurandhar 2 at 5 pm on Wednesday were cancelled, and the 5.30 pm ones were delayed by 40 minutes. A source told us, “Most theatres didn’t receive content and Key Delivery Message (KDM), a security file often referred to as a digital ‘passcode’ required to play the digital movie files in theatres on time. The Hindi ones were delivered by 6 pm, after which most shows started.”

Manoj Desai, Executive Director of G7 and Maratha Mandir, said, “It’s strange that they weren’t prepared even though they had opened advanced bookings for paid previews days ago. The south centres will get to see the dubbed versions a day after the film’s worldwide release. How were they not prepared? This inconvenienced the audience a lot. The crowd was angry at our staff because the shows were cancelled, but we had nothing to do with it.”

While there were delays and cancellations, exhibitor Raj Bansal says the paid previews have earned over Rs. 42 crore.

Confusion and delays were reported across several locations. Jothika M Joshi, a PhD student in Chennai, says, “The show was scheduled for 5 pm, but we waited outside the theatre for nearly 30 minutes. Even after taking our seats, there was another delay before the film began. No one offered any explanation, and we were left waiting without knowing if the film would be screened at all.”

Another moviegoer Divya Reddy says, “We reached the theatre around 5.40 pm only to be told that it was cancelled due to a ‘screening issue.’ By then, a crowd had gathered near the concession area, many having travelled long distances. What made it more confusing was that while booking, the platform carried a disclaimer that even IMAX shows would run in a regular format. Yet at the theatre, we were told only IMAX screenings would go ahead. The lack of clarity and last-minute cancellation left people confused and disappointed.”

The paid preview shows of the film in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana were cancelled due to the unavailability of dubbed language versions.

Exhibitor Akkshay Rathie said, “The Hindi version is out there now. Every cinema, every property, every screen that was meant to play the Hindi version is now active. The South Indian language versions will hopefully be available in 1–2 days. But as far as Hindi is concerned, every screen meant to play it is now running shows.”

– With inputs from Renuka Vyavahare and Roopa Radhakrishnan