Akshay Kumar and Priyanka Chopra: Cosy couple in Calcutta

When Priyanka Chopra proclaimed gleefully that it was so cool to be chased by two of the biggest Bollywood heroes in Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, she had no clue that there were some serious poopers lurking in Calcutta to spoil her marriage party.

A 24-hour tribute – to Hiren Mukherjee -- and a 12-hour torment – by Mamata Banerjee – were enough to leave Priyanka – and her super suitors -- stranded.

For the first time in years, it was a dry Sunday for the city’s cine buffs as the film trade union shut shop as homage to CPI leader Hiren Mukherjee.

And if that wasn’t enough to hit Friday’s big release, the Monday bandh made sure that no one could make it to David Dhawan’s tug of love.

Even the multiplexes decided not to play host to the baraati. As Ravi Raman, general manager of INOX Visual Ltd, put it: “We had initially thought of keeping it open but at the last moment we had to take a negative call for security reasons.”

While most film distributors suffered due to the back-to-back shutdown, Popular Movies, the West Bengal distributor of Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, was clearly the hardest hit.

Said Mohammed Reyaz, one of the partners of Popular Movies, “It has been a major setback for us. The film had a lot of merit and this break in continuity will not help things at all. While we knew from before that the Monday bandh would affect our business, the Sunday strike by the BMPEU (Bengal Motion Pictures Employees’ Union) took us completely by surprise.”

The first Sunday for any new film is the prime day, stressed Reyaz, and Shaadi, it seems, was “assured” of three house-full shows in every single-screen hall.

“Although exact figures are yet to be determined, the impact of the loss on us would be anything between Rs 12.5 lakh and Rs 15 lakh (for the two days),” rues Reyaz.

INOX, which was not affected by the BMPEU strike and had the regular Sunday shows, lost heavily due to the 12-hour Monday bandh. “Almost every show has been house full since Friday and there was heavy advanced booking for the Monday afternoon shows of Mujhse Shaadi Karogi,” said Raman. “What we did was re-allocate them to a show of their choice or refund the ticket money. We lost around Rs 30,000 for the two missed shows of the film.”

Far away from the trade union tributes and Trinamul Congress protests, the most sought after woman of the week remains on a high. “It was just too good,” is how the hit babe summed up her Shaadi.