Rajkumar Hirani opens up about how Dunki and Salaar's clash affects box office business: 'There is no escape'

Filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani recently broke the silence on Dunki and Salaar’s box office clash. He admitted that the clash invariably affects box office returns. His statement comes days after Salaar director Prashanth Neel clarified that the makers of both films never tried to compete with each other at the box office.

Hirani explained how limited amount of theatres and calendar dates leave no choice for filmmakers but to go ahead with the clash. “From a producer’s perspective, there are a limited amount of theatres in the country. Every viewer may not have enough money to watch films back-to-back or on consecutive days. There are certain people that make a choice to see one film in a week or even a month. So, I am sure at some level it affects both the films,” he told DNA.

Further he added, “In a clash, business is affected. But there is no option to that because there are 52 weeks and 200 films made. There would be clashes. Sometimes bigger films would clash and sometimes smaller. All these kind of things will continue happening. There is no escape from that.” Earlier, Prashanth also pointed on how there is no way to control something like that. Despite the clash, both the films have performed fairly well at the box office. While Salaar’s domestic box office collection surpassed Rs 350 crore-mark, Dunki has entered Rs 200 crore club in India.

Talking about Dunki, Hirani's directorial focuses on Donkey flight, an illegal way of immigration. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan, Taapsee Pannu, Vikram Kochhar, Anil Grover and Boan Irani in pivotal roles. Vicky Kaushal features in a special appearance. Backed by Red Chillies Entertainment, the film was released on December 21, 2023. On the other hand, Salaar centers around two childhood friends who become bitter enemies. Starring Prabhas and Prithviraj Sukumaran in lead roles, the film arrived in theatres on December 22, 2023.