Have 'Junooniyat' makers assumed 'Udta Punjab' won't release on June 17?

The makers of the upcoming romantic film "Junooniyat" have advanced their release date by a week, with lead actor Pulkit Samrat terming it as a "solo release" on June 17 raising questions about the status of the controversial film "Udta Punjab", also slated for a June 17 release.

"Junooniyat", which was slated for a June 24 release, advanced its release date by a week a few days back, with the director of the film Vivek Agnihotri issuing a statement where he mentioned "being ready", "popular songs", "curiosity for the film", "U certificate with no cuts from censor board" as reasons for advancing the release.

His statement did not mention anything about the numerous films clashing on June 24 or getting more screens and a "solo release" if they come on June 17.

In an interview for the promotions of their film, lead actress Yami Gautam said, "Now we are informing, we are coming on 17th, which is even closer to make your close ones come even more closer."

Pulkit added, "We're excited to come a little early because we finally get a solo release then. And the response has been great, so we are very confident about it."

Incidentally, another film "Shorgul" starring Jimmy Sheirgill, earlier slated for a June 24 release, have also advanced their release date by a week and are releasing on 17th.

When pointed out that "Junooniyat" is not a "solo release" considering "Shorgul", Pulkit said, "There are many such films. I'm talking about a release that becomes easier for us to get maximum number of screens then and the release becomes a little wider as compared to sharing screen with five films that were coming on the 24th. We would have got 1/5th of the screens, it gets divided. Now we get all the screens."

Earlier, films such as Anurag Kashyap's "Raman Raghav 2.0", "7 Hours To Go", "Missing On A Weekend" and "A Scandal" were slated for a June 24 release.

Though "Udta Punjab" has had troubles with the censor board, there has not yet been any confirmation regarding any delay in its release date of June 17. If its release stays on course, most likely they will get maximum screens due to bigger stars as compared to "Junooniyat" and "Shorgull".

--IANS

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