The movie is only slated to be released on 450–475 screens in India, according to an exhibition source who spoke to Bollywood Hungama. This is considerably less for a mid-sized movie directed by a big-budget filmmaker, starring an A-lister. According to the directives given to the theatres, the movie shows should start only after 11:00 am. Additionally, theatres with five screens or more are limited to playing a maximum of four shows. Theaters with fewer than five screens are advised to only have two or three performances per day.
Jhund (2022), the final film in which Amitabh Bachchan starred alone, was shown on around 1200 screens. Chehre (2021) was launched during a period when Maharashtra’s theatres were closed, yet it got a release in nearly 100 screens.
The source continued, “Several exhibitors are stunned by this request. We don’t remember the last time such a big film was released with such limited shows. Some multiplexes in fact wanted to play more shows but they were told not to do so.”