PVR INOX’s Aamer Bijli: ‘We Want to Ensure a Front-Row Feel for Every BTS Concert Film Fan’ (EXCLUSIVE)

The BTS fandom in India is booming. The BTS concert films have been sold-out events. Now, with the K-Pop Kings embarking on a global tour for the “ARIRANG” album, fans can hardly keep calm, eagerly awaiting the chance to watch BTS live. Aamer Bijli reveals what’s in store for the fans…

The BTS fandom is largely in the 15-25 age group. How do you intend to price the concert films for this demography?

Of course, BTS’s fanbase skews younger. Our pricing strategy, as with all concerts and live events, is designed to be accessible and premium. We recognize that the fandom is energetic, and we want to offer them a very high-value immersive experience. We want it to remain inclusive for students and young professionals, but at the same time, maintain the event’s exclusivity. So, accessible premium is the pricing strategy that we aim to offer. We want to ensure that every fan gets a front-row feel.

How many shows have you planned?

The weekend when we did the first telecast of the  ARIRANG Live in Goyang, we had about 97 to 100 shows in around 40-50 cinemas. Given that the demand is only going to increase, we will plan to have more shows this weekend. We will follow a demand-led scheduling model. Our capabilities are very dynamic when it comes to adding shows in real time and K-Pop actually provides that momentum. A lot of the shows are sold-out ones, so we will keep adding more shows to meet the demand. There are many BTS fans in the smaller towns too.

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How do you plan to take these BTS concerts to non-metro cities?

The BTS Army actually knows no geography. They are well spread out across India, and although screenings are now being hosted in tier-one metros, there are expansive plans to add more. Our network spreads across more than 20 cities, including smaller towns like Ahmedabad, Kochi and Guwahati. They are all leading the charge in terms of total admissions. These are amongst the top 10 Indian cities, and it extends beyond. We focus on where the BTS Army resides, with all our social media or marketing activations, and we plan accordingly.

In which city did you see the biggest turnout for the BTS concert?

For the concert film, we had the best turnout in Bangalore, followed by Mumbai and Kolkata. We also had very high turn-outs in Ahmedabad and Kochi.

Trafalgar Releasing announced that BTS concert movies crossed the 10-million milestone in October 2025. What is India’s contribution to it, and how much growth do you foresee in 2026?

Trafalgar Releasing is an absolute specialist in BTS concert movies, and they have reached the USD 10-million milestone. The Indian market is definitely seeing an upward trend in event cinema, and we expect this space to set new benchmarks for alternate content, specifically BTS. It is tough to estimate what percentage of the USD 10-million milestone has come from India. What I can tell you, though, is that over the last seven to eight BTS concerts that we have released in theaters since 2020, they have had extremely heavy gross box-office numbers, some exceeding the Rs one- two-crore mark.

Did the ‘Yet To Come’ Busan concert cross the ₹one-crore mark?
Yes.

What kind of theater occupancy did you see for the first Arirang concert in Goyang, Seoul?

We saw a 50 to 60 percent occupancy for the last one. Now, because of social media, the demand is going to surge. In 2027, we have more concerts planned with our partners at Trafalgar and with others.

Do you plan to bring live viewing of BTS concerts from places like Brazil, where the vibe is said to be insane?

The only reason we stick to the Asia-Pacific region is that time-wise, we benefit from these time zones. But we have had instances in the past where we have done 5-6 a.m. screenings, and the lines have been unbelievable for these BTS shows. We will definitely keep pushing the bar.

There is a huge demand for BTS merch amongst fans. Also, are you planning some events to add to the ‘Purple Wave’ of BTS fans?

There are companies we're already in talks with for holistic partnerships. We have spoken to HYBE and other companies for on-ground activations. We have a very strong merchandise community with companies like Warner Bros. and Universal. We partnered on event films such as ‘Barbie’ and ‘Superman.’ We are exploring with Trafalgar the rights to their merchandise. Very soon, we should be able to seal that deal. We also do a lot of partnerships on the ground. There are several Korean cultural touch points in India, so we efficiently address this target market. These include Korean restaurants, grocery stores, and retail outlets. We drive authentic engagement in these spaces.

How do you see the future of such concert films in India?
This entire market for concert films is robust and shows strong growth. We are constantly experimenting with what concerts will work and what won’t. We have seen that there's been a tremendous demand shift into something called event cinema. This is cinema that resonates with culture, cinema that resonates with anything far beyond just the average movie-watching experiences. We want to transform our theaters into community-driven sanctuaries, into hubs.

Of course, with the benefit of state-of-the-art projection and immersive sound, but we want to make them into arenas where the atmosphere is so vibrant that the fans can essentially take over the entire space, similar to what they did during this BTS concert. We have seen what happened at the recent T20 finals.

Those had 92-95% occupancy, respectively and the atmosphere was just electric. You're part of an entire movement of shared reality where you know everyone in the audience is a dedicated, loyal fan. That is an irreplaceable experience. We definitely plan to enhance this experience by bringing more concerts to India.