Craze about Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan movies is always high but this time at Malegaon, things went really out of hand. A group of people started burning crackers during the screening of Rakesh Roshan‘s ‘Karan Arjun‘ and soon the fire spread on to the seats. The theatre staff managed to douse the fire but not before the cinema hall’s owner had decided that he had enough. The shocking incident happened, last Friday, February 12.

Sheikh Shafiq, owner of Central Cinema in Malegaon where the mayhem broke out, when contacted, told ETimes,, “People go out of control in Malegaon at least when they see Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan movies. We have had terrible experiences in the past in quite a few cinema halls here, they insert crackers in their underwears and bring them in. it is just not possible to keep them at bay. This is their excitement but we are suffering. It needs to be condemned in no uncertain terms; the audience here is so obstinate that sometimes it happens despite the police being around them. This time we managed to save the property but I really don’t know what to do in the days ahead.”

So why did he release ‘Karan Arjun’ in the first place? Shafiq reasoned that he felt that he would make a good buck if he releases ‘Karan Arjun’ which has SRK and Salman both. “I know we have had problems in the past but imagine my state owing to the lockdown. The business has been adversely affected big time since March 2020 and has not improved in the recent past either. I could not resist but I least expected that things would go to such lengths.”

End result? Shafiq has pulled down ‘Karan Arjun’. “I am now running the Ajay Devgn starrer ‘Hulchul’. What can I do? Someone needs to advise me.”