EXCLUSIVE: Gaurav Verma explains the INSIDE story on why Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan didn’t CLASH with any other film: “From the start, we were chasing Rs. 75 cr day 1…we called up Karan Johar, Zee Studios, Jailer makers…”

By Fenil Seta -

November 29, 2025 - 11:30 AM IST

The success of a film doesn’t just depend on its content but, to some extent, on its release date as well. A lot of thought goes behind getting the film on a particular date and this step becomes even more important when the film in question is the biggest of the year. Gaurav Verma recently successfully distributed the sleeper Diwali success, Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat, along with Aman Gill and Deepak Upreti. While speaking about the release strategy and identifying a release date in an exclusive interview with Bollywood Hungama, Gaurav Verma went down memory lane and talked about the time when he was a part of Red Chillies Entertainment and also the co-producer of Jawan (2023), starring superstar Shah Rukh Khan. Gaurav explained how he and the RCE team took a while in locking the release date of the film.

EXCLUSIVE: Gaurav Verma explains the INSIDE story on why Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan didn’t CLASH with any other film: “From the start, we were chasing Rs. 75 cr day 1…we called up Karan Johar, Zee Studios, Jailer makers…”

Gaurav Verma revealed that there was a requirement to get a solo release as they knew that the content was exciting and had the potential to collect record numbers, “While working on Jawan, we knew that we were chasing a Rs. 75 crores day 1. From the very start, that was the aim. Hence, we were looking for not just a solo release but also possibly a date where there’s limited or negligible competition from a holdover release as well.”

Jawan was originally scheduled to be released on June 2, 2023, and was ultimately shifted to September 7 of the same year. Gaurav explained how this date was finalized, “We called up everyone to ask if they were coming on July 28 or August 11 as scheduled. We checked with Karan Johar and he confirmed that he was releasing Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani on July 28. We called up Bhushan Kumar to check whether he was coming with Animal on August 11 (the film was ultimately pushed to December 1, 2023). Then we asked Zee Studios about Gadar 2. We also enquired with the makers of Jailer. Both confirmed that they are bringing their respective films on August 11. Then, Dream Girl 2 was supposed to release on August 25. For it, a call was made to Balaji Telefilms as well.”

He continued, “This is how we chose a date, which was solo. Dream Girl 2 by then would have completed 2 weeks, while Gadar 2 would have completed nearly a month’s run in the theatres. We also made sure that there was no release in Tamil and Telugu. This is because Shah Rukh Khan is a Pan-India star and has a huge penetration down South. So, the idea was that there should be no competition in any language and Jawan becomes the only choice. We didn’t want any interference and lose even one show as that would have affected our eventual aim (of record numbers). One or two fewer shows in a theatre would mean that the film would have collected Rs. 1.25 lakhs or Rs. 1.50 lakhs less from that cinema hall. When you multiply it by the number of shows lost across the board, it becomes a huge number, which we couldn’t afford to lose. I am glad our strategy worked and that Jawan broke all records, as was our intention.”

Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: When clashes were CLASSY! Aman Gill, Gaurav Verma revisit Welcome-Taare Zameen Par release that serves as EYE-OPENER for today’s ego-driven industry: “We didn’t try to ruin the other film; we shared shows and both films won!”