Mollywood seems on a shaky ground after early indicators from the box-office revealed a mixed bag at the box-office this Onam.
Over Rs.35 crore is at stake as five Onam releases hit the screens amidst high hopes of setting the cash registers ringing.
Renjith’s Loham , Kamal’s Uttopiyayile Rajavu , Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Double Barrel ; Basil Joseph’s Kunjiramayanam , and Thomas Sebastian’s Jamnapyari are fighting it out even as the industry stakeholders pointed out that the expectations have not fully turned into reality going by the initial feedback.
“ Uttopiyayile Rajavu and Double Barrel seem to have not gone down well with the audience. Loham could maintain a steady collection in the first week while Jamnapyari is having an average run. Kunjiramayanam could be the dark horse this season,” said P. V. Basheer Ahamed, president of the Kerala Film Exhibitor’s Federation, the combine of ‘A’ class cinemas in the State. However, K. Nandakumar, president of the Kerala Film Chamber of Commerce, said that Double Barrel is having mixed reactions. “Some have liked it while many had rejected it. Uttopiyayile Rajavu could not score, as people expected something different from Kamal-Mammootty combine. Kunjiramayanam is going up in the charts,” he said.
Siyad Kokker, president of the Kerala Film Distributor’s Association, admitted that the Onam releases are yet to connect with the public. “We have to wait till Monday to know the actual fate of the films,” he said.
The industry seems to have learned nothing from previous experiences by releasing multiple films at one go with no one film being able to maximise collections. Loham , on the other hand, despite being an average flick reaped the benefits of being an early bird giving it a solo run at the box-office before the other four flicks were released to give it a contest.
Over Rs.35 crore is at stake as five Onam releases hit the screens
