Team India has cemented its place in World Cup quarter finals, sending TRPs northwards and leaving cricket fans beaming. This month was earmarked for a slew of small and medium budget films before the biggies set out in April and May, after the exam season. But team India’s performance has left a few projects in a Catch-22 situation. Releasing their films now would mean having anxious moments and hoping that people would troop into theatres despite the matches and postponing till the end of World Cup (March 29) would mean getting sandwiched between big projects in April and struggling to find enough screens.
“Cinema is a means of entertainment and when people are getting entertained watching cricket at home, it does reflect on the turnout in cinema halls. The team is performing well and even those who are not regular cricket followers are tuning in. Patriotism is a driving factor,” says actor Sundeep Kishan. His film Tiger , co-starring Rahul Ravindran and Seerat Kapoor, is in the offing. “We are willing to wait to lock in on a good date. Summer is packed with many films, with budgets ranging from Rs. 7 crore to Rs. 30 crore,” Sundeep points out.
Nani starrer Yevade Subramanyam will arrive on Ugadi, March 21. “The Telugu New Year signals new beginnings and we thought it would be ideal to release the film on Ugadi. Usually, people perform pujas in the morning and go out to watch a film in the later part of the day. Sankranti has kite flying or rooster fights depending on which part of the two states you are in. For Ugadi, there’s nothing much to do,” says the actor, who has just completed dubbing for Dulquer Salman for the Telugu version of Mani Ratnam’s Ok Bangaram . Nani is not apprehensive about the World Cup eating into Yevade’s first weekend collections. “Morning shows may be affected, not the evening and night shows,” he says. The makers of Jenda Pai Kapiraju , starring Nani in two roles, have also announced an Ugadi release but the actor hints at chances of settling for a different date.
Gopichand’s Jill is also expected soon . April 2 will see the arrival of Allu Arjun starrer S/o Sathyamurthy directed by Trivikram Srinivas. Sai Dharam Tej’s Rey , Sudheer Varma’s Dohchay starring Naga Chaitanya, Ram’s Pandaga Chesko , Balakrishna’s Lion, director Gunasekhar’s Rudhramadevi starring Anushka Shetty, Suriya’s Masss, Ravi Teja’s Kick 2 are scheduled to follow. S.S. Rajamouli announced May 15 for the first part of his magnum opus Baahubali . There’s a line up of small films including Tungabhadra (March 20), Hyderabad Love Story and the bilingual Moodu Mukkallo Cheppalante . Mani Ratnam’s Ok Bangaram is also slated for April.
The summer rush is not unusual. Post the exam season, cinema halls witness increased footfalls. Now and then, cricket has played spoilsport. “IPL had tremendous viewership in the first two years and then hit a plateau. I doubt if the preliminary matches will affect the films. Evening and night shows may be affected in the later stages,” says Rahul Ravindran, adding, “But summer is when we usually have many big films releasing and people love to watch them.”
For smaller and medium budget films, Rahul feels there are different dynamics at play. “For smaller movies, getting screens is important. So even if there is a fall in ticket sales on the days when India is playing the World Cup matches, they might take the risk since they are ensured of less competition on other days. Cinema halls count on weekends for higher attendance and the irony is that since India is huge with cricket viewing and thereby ad revenue, most matches played by India are on weekends,” he says.
If the Telugu industry has lined up big budget mainstream projects, the Hindi industry has a potpourri in store.
Anushka Sharma and Neil Bhoopalam’s NH10 , Dibakar Banerjee’s Byomkesh Bakshy , Shoojit Sircar’s Piku , Anurag Kashyap’s Bombay Velvet with Ranbir Kapoor, Zoya Akhtar’s multistarrer Dil Dhadakne Do , Anand L. Rai’s Tanu Weds Manu 2 and Shonali Bose’s Margarita With a Straw are scheduled this summer.
