While most distributors around the world are ducking for cover to avoid Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the producers of two Bollywood films are taking on J.J. Abrams’ juggernaut head-on worldwide on December 18.
The Walt Disney DIS -0.88% Co. isn’t up for the contest with Dilwale and Bajirao Matani in India or Pakistan, where the Star Wars reboot is launching on December 25.
India’s biggest film star, Shah Rukh Khan, heads the cast of director Rohit Shetty’s Dilwale, an action-comedy-musical shot in Bulgaria. In its first foray into distribution, Khan’s production company Red Chillies is releasing the film in India, the U.S. and the UK.
Bajirao Mastani, producer/director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s historical romantic drama starring Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra, Milind Soman and Tanvi Azmi, is being released worldwide by Eros International.
The Disney Co. originally dated Star Wars worldwide on December 18 but then opted to go one week later in India and Pakistan, presumably to avoid clashing with the Bollywood entries.
Source: Forbes/ STAR/AFP
