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The two warring films, JTHJ and SOS aimed to bring in maximum profits at the ticket counters on Saturday and Sunday, but failed because of Bal Thackeray’s death

The impact of Balasaheb Thackeray’s demise has been felt in Bollywood, big time. Both Jab Tak Hai Jaan and Son of Sardaar, which released last week on Diwali day, felt the aftershock at the box office all over Maharashtra. As news of the Shiv Sena supremo’s death spread like wildfire across the nation, the city of Mumbai came to a standstill, with the theatres pulling down shutters as mark of respect to the late political giant. Reportedly, theatres in Maharashtra and all other metropolitan cities cancelled movie shows, adding up to major weekend losses for the two films.

According to leading exhibitor-distributor Akshaye Rathi, “Cinema hall owners cancelled the shows on Saturday evening and all through Sunday as a mark of respect to Balasaheb Thackeray. Both JTHJ and SOS could have earned a combine total of Rs 6 crores each from Mumbai over the weekend, but the spillover of the audience that would have thronged the theatres over the weekend to the weekdays and the next weekend will make up for it.”

Manoj Desai, owner of Gaiety-Galaxy explained, “We closed the theatres on Saturday and Sunday as a mark of respect to Balasaheb. Nobody expected the unfortunate incident. We expect a certain amount of growth in the next two, three days.”

Girish Wankhede of Cinemax India told us, “We were expecting a minimum of 60 percent occupancy over the weekend. But because of Bal Thackeray’s demise, 500 shows got cancelled out of the 66 Cinemax screens in Maharashtra. We lost out on nearly Rs 2 crore.”

Big business can mean big profits, but big losses as well. This past weekend certainly has proved that!