Pyre director Vinod Kapri says 75% shows of film has been cut down within first week, reveals theatre owners were told only one film will be shown

Vinod Pyre questioned what kind of justice is this for a film like Pyre, made on a tiny budget, to be removed from theatres in favour of a bigger film.

National Award-winning fimmaker Vinod Kapri’s Pyre released in theatres last week to rave reviews. The film tells the story of an elderly couple who continue to wait for their children, even as life in their Himalayan village grows quieter with each passing day. On Saturday, the filmmaker took to X to share that majority of the shows of the film has been removed for a bigger film to release and theatre owners were told that only one film will play now.

Vinod Kapri's Hindi film Pyre released in theatres across India on October 30

‘This is not fair’

In a video post, the filmmaker said that he did not want to make this video statement because of the need of the hour. He said that Pyre had a limited release from the beginning, in around 80 screens. But because of the love that the film got, the number extended to 400. But, since the last two days, 75% of the shows have been cut of Pyre and now the number is less than 100.

“We are in touch with theatre owners and distributors. They have been told that no other film will be running in theatres except one film. I do not understand why you have to run your film by stopping other films? Is this a win of good over evil? Is there any honor in doing this? The honor with which we tell a story. This is a small film, with non actors, and people are crying after seeing it. What honor, truth and goodness do you boast when this is the way theatres are ordered? I urge theatre owners and distributors to not do this with Pyre. If you have spent a lot of money, then we have spent our soul in making a film. We deserve a fair chance,” he said.

Deep Dive

Why were 75% of Pyre’s theatre shows cut in its first week?

Was Ramayana the film linked to Pyre losing theatre shows?

How much did Ramayana earn in its first three days?

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“This is not fair, not to Pyre. Not to your audience,” read the caption of the post. Although Vinod did not name the big film in question, the big release over the last two days is Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana starring Ranbir Kapoor and Yash in lead roles. The film released in theatres on November 5 and has already crossed ₹155 crore so far.

About Ramayana

Produced by Namit Malhotra’s Prime Focus Studios, Ramayana is a two-part cinematic adaptation of the Hindu epic. The ambitious project features Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Yash as Ravana and Sunny Deol as Hanuman.

Ramayana is the latest adaptation of Valmiki's epic, one of the world's oldest pieces of literature. It tells the story of Lord Rama, the incarnation of Lord Vishnu and his battle against the asura king Ravana after the latter abducts his wife, Sita.

The film also stars Ravi Dubey, Anupam Kher, Kajal Aggarwal, Rakul Preet Singh, Vivek Oberoi, Kunal Kapoor, Adinath Kothare, Arun Govil, Indira Krishnan and Lara Dutta.