MNS will not derail Chennai Express : Bollywood, News

The decks have been cleared for the release of Chennai Express in Maharashtra one day after the Raj Thackeray led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) threatened to halt it.

The party's cinema wing had on July 31 alleged that the film's producer, UTV, was bullying single-screen theatre owners to assign all slots from 12pm to 12am to Chennai Express when it releases on August 9.

This, they said, would jeopardise the run of Marathi hit Dunyadari, which has been running successfully in Mumbai's 19 single-screen theatres since July 19.

SRK-Deepika starrer 'Chennai Express' will release on August 9

To clear the air, Chennai Express director Rohit Shetty and officials from UTV met Thackeray- who also invited the team of Dunyadari- at his Krishnakunj residence on August 1. At the meeting, Shetty told Thackeray that it was the theatre owners who wanted to replace Dunyadari with Chennai Express, and the producers had never tried to take the former off the screens. He added that they would ensure that Dunyadari and Chennai Express were both accommodated fairly at Mumbai's single-screens.

Speaking after the interaction, Shetty said: "Theatre owners said they wanted to replace Dunyadari with Chennai Express and we don't want that to happen." Shetty denied that he had been intimidated into settling for a compromise, saying he enjoyed a personal acquaintance with Thackeray.

Chennai Express, which stars Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone, premiered in the United Kingdom on July 31, a week before its India release.The film is expected to release across 170 screens in the UK, making it one of the biggest-ever Bollywood releases in the country.