Eminent exhibitor and distributor Akshaye Rathi has sparked a sharp but substantive industry conversation by responding to Aamir Khan’s recent comment on India’s theatrical infrastructure. Aamir had suggested that if a film like Dhurandhar were to release in a hypothetical 15,000 screens, the business potential would be dramatically higher. The star also added that India urgently needs more cinema screens.
Akshaye Rathi calls out Aamir Khan’s 15,000 screen theory; says theatres can’t survive on 3-4 big films a year: “How many films do Dhurandhar-level numbers in a year? Yes, we need more screens, but first we need films that can sustain them”
Akshaye Rathi, however, pushed back on what he called “cute theoretical jargon,” grounding the debate in on-ground exhibition realities. In a detailed note, he questioned when Aamir last made a film that actually warranted a pan-India release across even the existing 9,000+ screens or even the 4,500 screens in the Hindi belt. He pointed out that titles such as Happy Patel Khatarnak Jasoos (2026), Laapataa Ladies (2024) and Sitaare Zameen Par (2025) had limited, metro-focused releases and remained “completely irrelevant for the long tail of the existing exhibition sector.”
Making a crucial distinction between infrastructure and content, Akshaye argued that Indian business entities are more than capable of building screens quickly, but only if the content ecosystem supports it. “The fuel for it is content that finds appeal with the grassroots of our markets,” he stated, emphasizing that wide-appeal films need to be made and released consistently, not sporadically.
Akshaye Rathi further questioned the economic viability of adding thousands of screens for just “3–4 such films in a year” that create meaningful P&L impact. He said, “How many films in a year do the kind of numbers that Dhurandhar did? Or have as wide a geographical impact in terms of footfalls in cities, towns & villages that have a cinema hall today? Can cinemas, which require crores of rupees in capex to be built & have high operating costs be made and maintained for 3-4 such films in a year which create significant impact on the P&L?”
Striking a respectful tone, Rathi reaffirmed his admiration for Aamir’s legacy, calling many of his earlier films all-time favourites. Yet he insisted the statement needed to be called out. His conclusion was pointed but collaborative: “Yes, we need thousands of more screens, but before that, we need films that can enable them to be built.” He ended by wishing Aamir well for Ek Din, Lahore 1947 and other future projects, signalling that exhibitors are ready to do their bit if content creators do theirs too.
Also Read: Suniel Shetty praises Aditya Dhar and Ranveer Singh after watching Dhurandhar; calls it ‘mind-blowing film’
More Pages: Dhurandhar Box Office Collection , Dhurandhar Movie Review
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