PVR Cinemas' Ajay Bijli is excited about the two big Bollywood releases — Lal Singh Chaddha featuring Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor in lead roles and Akshay Kumar-starrer Raksha Bandhan — as the long Independence Day weekend kicks in, which also coincides with the 25 years of the multiplex firm.

On the two new releases, Bijli said, “Advances are extremely strong for both the movies Laal Singh Chaddha, and Raksha Bandhan. Raksha Bandhan is attracting traction. It is music to our ears and a very exciting time and having on such a long weekend to big releases of big stars is fantastic.”

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As India's largest and oldest multiplex chain celebrates its silver jubilee, Bijli talks about a quarter of a century of massive changes in the movie business. And that comes on the back of altered audience expectations, the massive popularity and aggressive competition among streaming services, and the merger announced earlier this year with INOX Leisure.

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Talking about the Hindi films not getting it right he said, “People very soon draw conclusions, which are totally unsubstantiated. Pre-pandemic this trend was there, you could have a movie of a big star not doing well. So content has to connect with the audiences, sometimes it connects, sometimes it doesn't resonate. Individually, every producer will obviously get disappointed if his movie doesn't do well.

Watch this episode of Media Dialogues, where Anuradha SenGupta speaks to PVR's founder and chairman Ajay Bijli on post-pandemic opportunities and challenges, as well as life after the merger.

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