Apart from acting, these days Salman Khan is gearing up towards a lot of other interests. After turning producer and a distributor, he is now set to open a chain of theatres. Salman's passion project that he envisioned two years ago, is a chain of theatres which will have tax-free tickets at subsidized rates and the underprivileged audiences will not have to pay. The theatres will run by the name of Salman Talkies.
Talking about the project, Salman revealed to a daily, “I had a lot of plans for the theatre chain but it’s taking me longer because I need to be very careful. There are a lot of logistical details involved so that the project doesn’t shut down. But let me clarify, the theatres will not be in Bandra or Juhu, but on the outskirts of Mumbai.”
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Salman expressed that he wants to do many things in the exhibitor and distributor space and would love to inaugurate each theatre himself. This comes as a logical step for Bhaijaan as by turning distributor with (the upcoming Eid release) Race 3, he has taken the first step in the exhibitor-distributor space. This theatre chain will add another aspect to his portfolio.
Salman is very gung-ho about his chain of theatres and has already met many producers, distributors and exhibitors to work on his plan and understand the nitty-gritty of the market. The theatre chain will start in Maharashtra and will expand to other states over the next ten years.
Salman is accompanied by Bobby Deol, Jacqueline Fernandez, Daisy Shah, Saqib Saleem and Anil Kapoor in Race 3 which will release on June 15, 2018. The film is being produced by Ramesh Taurani's TIPS industries Pvt Ltd. and Salman’s home production (SKF). The actor came on board as a distributor at the last minute when the deal with Eros International fell through. Now, Salman will distribute the film along with brother-in-law Aayush Sharma’s film Loveratri.
The growing rate of tickets in tier-one cities has alarmed Salman and the actor has been vocal on the fact that the tickets in metropolitan cities sometimes cost Rs 400-500. He said that ticket rates should be brought down to Rs 200-250 for weekends and Rs 120-150 for weekdays similar to regional films. He maintains that there should be more theatres in small regions to increase footfalls to boost box-office collections.
On the other hand, fellow actor Ajay Devgn has also bought six single-screen theatres in Uttar Pradesh, which he plans to transform into modern multiplexes. Ajay has named these theatres as NY Cinemas, the initials of his children Nysa and Yug. He has acquired theatres in Raebareli, Ghaziabad, Agra, Phul Khiriya and Allahabad, and plans to take over 100 more screens across India.