Rebuilding 3 sets, overseas theatre woes behind Salaar delay?

Contrary to rumors over the delay in release of big-ticket entertainer Salaar starring Prabhas and Shruti Haasan, the makers seem to have genuine problems because of which they held back the release.

It is reliably learnt that director Prashanth Neel was unhappy with the visual effects team from Mumbai. “Director Prashanth urged the Mumbai-based team to create three lavish fictional cities for his magnum opus. But when the team displayed their work, the director was dissatisfied with the patchy work and returned the material asking them to re-do the sets by giving them few more references,” says a source and adds, “Despite charging a bomb, the visual effects personnel couldn’t recreate the cities as suggested by the director.”

Unwilling to compromise on his work and vision, Prashanth Neel is said to have asked the producers to defer the release, until the work was completed to his satisfaction. “With a lot of expectations riding on the action-adventure, the producers discussed with distributors across the world and postponed the release without fixing a specific date for now,” the source adds.

It is not easy to find a new date because overseas distributors in the UK, Australia, and Japan always insist on a 15-day advance permission for downloading the content. “Producers release the key to download movies in theatres from the server two days before the release in India. However, it is a different story in some theatre overseas. They have different working modules, where they insist on receiving the downloading permission 15 days before the film hits the screens for quality checks. So, finding a new date will be a challenge.

“A lot of negotiations have to be carried out with various exhibitors and distributors around the world, to find another suitable date. It is bound to take some time,” the source concludes.