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Mirroring The Industry: Time to release Sooryavanshi, 83, Shamshera, SMJ 2, Anek, Antim as cinema halls reopen
Bell Bottom will be the first Hindi film to release on the big screen post the pandemic, and then it’s time for the industry to come together and make an attempt to revive the dead exhibition sector. Pinkvilla discusses.
When the country recovered from the first wave of Covid-19 pandemic, the Hindi film industry resorted to the wait and watch game, despite the cinema halls opening up across the nation in the month of November 2020. It took four months for the industry to “figure out the on-ground scenario” as the Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam industry delivered multiple hits in the same span of time.
Bollywood producers let go off lucrative windows of Christmas, Republic Day and Valentine’s Day in an attempt to gauge if the audience is stepping out, when the message was loud and clear with restaurants and malls running to packed houses all across. It was in March 2020 that the industry took the call of announcing their release dates. It was the Janhvi Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao fronted Roohi that released on March 10 and did a reasonable business of Rs 25 crore, playing a role in restarting the cycle again. This was followed by Mumbai Saga and Saina, which failed to do well at the box-office. While a section in industry believe that the failure was as a result of the surge in cases, the real scenario rests in the fact that both the films looked dull from the word go with almost negligible pre-release hype.
Bollywood producers let go off lucrative windows of Christmas, Republic Day and Valentine’s Day in an attempt to gauge if the audience is stepping out, when the message was loud and clear with restaurants and malls running to packed houses all across. It was in March 2020 that the industry took the call of announcing their release dates
Himesh Mankad
By the start of April, the second wave took over the nation, resulting in closure of cinema halls across the nation. While January to March was the perfect window for the release of films like Sooryavanshi, 83, Radhe among others, they all decided to wait it out and left the golden period of release. The closure of cinema halls in April resulted in Radhe opting for a direct to digital route on Pay Per View model, whereas Sooryavanshi and 83 have been indefinitely delayed, holding back for a theatrical release. Retrospectively, one sees the waiting period as a big miss for the industry as films would have done reasonable biz in the first quarter of the year. But as they say, every mistake is a learning.
With cinema halls opening up again, Akshay Kumar and the team of Bell Bottom have taken the brave move of not waiting for things to recover and rather release the film on the earliest date. The action thriller is all geared up for an August 19 release and is expected to unlock the film business in India. While expecting Rs 100 crore would be putting too much pressure on the film, we believe every achievement should be celebrated as this is restarting things from point zero. Anything upwards of Rs 50 crore will be a great feat for the Akshay Kumar starrer as the actor is creating a path, so that the others can run.
Bell Bottom has laid the stone, now it's time for others to build the structure and complete the assignment. It’s time for the industry to come together and revive the dead exhibition sector
Himesh Mankad
The third wave is expected in the month of October, meaning, the cinema halls will yet again be the first to shut their operations. August to October is expected to be the golden window for film releases and one should make the most of it. Rather than waiting out for the festive season, it’s time for producers to announce the release of long in the que films like Sooryavanshi, 83, Chehre, Jayeshbhai Jordaar, Bunty Aur Babli 2, Atrangi Re, Shamshera, Anek, Antim, Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui, Satyameva Jayate 2, and Attack among many others to release in the August to October window and make an attempt to restart the cycle of releases. Bell Bottom has laid the stone, now it's time for others to build the structure and complete the assignment. It’s time for the industry to come together and revive the dead exhibition sector.
God forbid, if there’s a third wave, the reopening will be pushed to January or February next year, leaving the exhibition sector without much business for 2 years.
ALSO READ: Mirroring The Industry: A dull first half for Bollywood on content as well as revenue front
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