Karan Johar's Hindi film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil getting assurances of a smooth release on Diwali had a positive effect on share prices of companies connected to films on Friday. Eros, PVR and Inox gained in the range of 1 to 2.59 percent on the BSE, though they were off from their day's trading highs at around 2.35 pm.
Film production and distribution company Eros was trading at Rs 198.60, while multiplexes Inox Leisure and PVR were up 1.05 percent and 0.72 percent, respectively, at Rs 273 and Rs 1,230. The BSE Sensex was down by about 0.50 percent at 27,996.
The rise was apparently sentiment-driven for Eros since the film, starring Pakistan actor Fawad Khan and Indian actors Ranbir Kapoor, Aishwarya Bachchan and Anushka Sharma, has been produced by Karan Johar's production house, Dharma Productions, and will be distributed by Fox Star Studios.
On Thursday, Apoorva Mehta, the CEO of Dharma Productions, and Mukesh Bhatt, president of Film and Television Producers' Guild of India, met union home minister Rajnath Singh in the wake of threats to the film's release on October 28.
"Rajnath Singh said he will speak to chief minister of every state and that Ae Dil Hai Mushkil will release without any violence or issue," Mukesh Bhatt was quoted as saying by ANI.
The film had run into trouble after sections of the film fraternity and certain political outfits called for boycotting it since it features Fawad Khan, a politically-sensitive issue in the wake of worsening relations between India and Pakistan since the terror attack on Indian Army soldiers took place in Uri, Kashmir on September 18.
Babul Supriyo, a minister in the Modi government, had lashed out at the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) for threatening to disrupt the screening of the film. "The MNS should not have the right or audacity to create ruckus at theatres, they have always been a party of goons," he was quoted as saying by the ANI.
Incidentally, India and Pakistan complete eight years of cross-LoC trade this week. The trade routes of Uri-Muzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawalakot commenced in 2008, following the ceasefire in 2003.
Trucks ply four days a week between Muzaffarabad and Srinagar to facilitate movement of goods in what is often described by analysts as a significant confidence-building measure between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
