Strange as it may sound, the cinema closure following the coronavirus pandemic lockdown started days after the release of Dinesh Vijan’s Angrezi Medium in March last year, and cinemas are now all set to reopen with cent per cent capacity with the same producer’s Roohi. In other words, it was Vijan’s Angrezi Medium which was the last Bollywood film to be released prior to the lockdown, and it will be his Roohi which will be the first release after cinemas have been allowed to function at full capacity.
Cinemas reopened in October last year but all this time, they were permitted to operate at 50% capacity only. Because of the reduced capacity, many producers were unwilling to release their films in cinemas. The ministry of home affairs recently allowed cinemas to work at cent per cent capacity, subject to the state governments endorsing the same in their respective states. New films were, of course, released from October onwards but most of the new releases were not done wholeheartedly. The first major release after cinemas being allowed to work to house full capacity would be Roohi on March 11 (Thursday on account of Maha Shivratri holiday).
The film is a horror comedy and stars Rajkumar Rao, Janhvi Kapoor and Varun Sharma. It is directed by Hardik Mehta (who had directed Kaamyaab). Incidentally, Roohi had been titled Rooh Afza when it was announced. But the makers of Rooh Afza syrup mix did not take too kindly to the film title and hence the producers (Jio Studios and Vijan’s Maddock Films) had to change the title to Roohi. Between Rooh Afza and Roohi, there was speculation that the film would be titled Roohi Afza, then Roohi Afzana but the final title is Roohi.