Reason why Salman Khan sold Radhe’s rights to Zee Studios and not YRF revealed

Salman Khan’s Radhe – Your Most Wanted Bhai is one of the most awaited movies of 2021. This action thriller was scheduled to hit the theatre screens during EID 2020 earlier. But because of the pandemic situation the release was postponed to EID 2021in April. It was also in news that Bhaijaan has taken a major step and sold the rights solely to Zee Studios for a whopping 230 crores. Well read on further to know the reason behind this step.

Earlier, Salman Khan had a contract with Yash Raj Films for theatrical rights, that with Amazon Prime for digital rights. He further had a contract with T-Series for music rights and Zee only had the satellite rights. But recently Salman sold the theatrical (India + Overseas), Satellite, Digital and Music rights to  Zee Studios. Now Zee owns the film entirely.

A source has revealed “YRF had entered into an agreement with Salman Khan Films (SKF) to distribute the film globally on a commission basis, which meant that the income for SKF would vary according to the business the film does theatrically. There is always an element of uncertainty in such deals, particularly in times of Covid-19 pandemic as one can’t be sure uld also about the footfalls and thereby returns from cinema halls. On the other hand, he had entered into a digital deal with Amazon, who had exclusive streaming rights for the film, 8 weeks after its theatrical release. The satellite rights were with Zee, who could premiere it on their channel 8 weeks after the OTT premiere, and music rights were with T-Series.”

The various rights of Radhe were sold to multiple companies. In order to make things simple, Salman thought of having it all under one umbrella. This would also allow him to take business decisions  without taking opinions from several partners. So he signed the deal with Zee Studio.

The source also told, “While Salman got an upfront amount of Rs 230 crores, making him earn a table profit of over Rs. 100 crores, the studio now has all the rights thereby opening up various modes of revenue – ranging from satellite revenues from advertisers, OTT revenue from Zee 5, monetization of advertisement revenue from YouTube and other music apps. In-case, the on-ground Covid-19 scenario turns worse; Zee can always go back and opt for the hybrid release model for Radhe – by bringing it on OTT platform within 2 to 3 weeks after the theatrical release.”