Combating cricket fever
Indian cinemas make alternate arrangements to deal with decreased attendance.
NEW DEHLI:
No big Bollywood releases for a while. With Class 10 and 12 board exams on and cricket hogging audience attention, most cinemas will screen old films, Oscar-winning productions and even cricket matches for a month. The board exams in March-April keep students and their families away. The Cricket World Cup that began February 19 will be on till April 2.
As a result, filmmakers and distributors have decided to halt big releases, lessening competition for the latest releases Tanu Weds Manu and 7 Khoon Maaf which are already running in the halls.
“It’s usually the case that at exam time there are no major releases, this time it is compounded by the world cup, so ticket sales of theatres is likely to be hit. Sometimes occupancy goes down to 10 per cent,” said Yogesh Raizada, corporate head of Wave Cinemas.
Some are tapping the cricket fever by screening live matches on the big screen. DT Cinema is one of them.
“We are planning to show the semi-finals and final of the world cup. As far as movies are concerned, we plan to screen 3D movies,” said Amit Shah of DT cinema
“We have planned to screen various Oscar-winning films during this time. A Punjabi film is also releasing and so that would help fill in the gap in Punjab,” said Tusshar Dhingra, chief operating officer, Big Cinemas.
In Delhi, single-screen cinema Delight plans to target youth by showing Hollywood movies.
“We will go for quick changes. We plan to target youth through English movies,” said RK Mehrotra, general manager, Delight.
Patna-based Ranjan Sinha, spokesperson of the Bihar-Jharkhand Motion Pictures Association, said the association has no plans to combat cricket fever.
“We are not doing anything special. The cinema halls here will continue showing old films like Patiala House and 7 Khoon Maaf. In many movie halls, dubbed films from the south are also running. And we will continue releasing Bhojpuri films,” he said.
TN Kapoor, a partner in the Indore-based Bharti Film Distributors, a firm which has been distributing movies since 1948, said: “We are planning to show old movies like Raj Kapoor’s Aag and some recent hits like Dabangg, Wanted and Yamla Pagla Deewana. We will also screen a few dubbed English movies.
Suhel Warsi, a Lucknow-based producer, said: “Usually we show whatever we have. As such there is no special planning.”
The turn of events is a blessing in disguise for films like Tanu Weds Manu that are facing little competition.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 14th, 2011.
No big Bollywood releases for a while. With Class 10 and 12 board exams on and cricket hogging audience attention, most cinemas will screen old films, Oscar-winning productions and even cricket matches for a month. The board exams in March-April keep students and their families away. The Cricket World Cup that began February 19 will be on till April 2.
As a result, filmmakers and distributors have decided to halt big releases, lessening competition for the latest releases Tanu Weds Manu and 7 Khoon Maaf which are already running in the halls.
“It’s usually the case that at exam time there are no major releases, this time it is compounded by the world cup, so ticket sales of theatres is likely to be hit. Sometimes occupancy goes down to 10 per cent,” said Yogesh Raizada, corporate head of Wave Cinemas.
Some are tapping the cricket fever by screening live matches on the big screen. DT Cinema is one of them.
“We are planning to show the semi-finals and final of the world cup. As far as movies are concerned, we plan to screen 3D movies,” said Amit Shah of DT cinema
“We have planned to screen various Oscar-winning films during this time. A Punjabi film is also releasing and so that would help fill in the gap in Punjab,” said Tusshar Dhingra, chief operating officer, Big Cinemas.
In Delhi, single-screen cinema Delight plans to target youth by showing Hollywood movies.
“We will go for quick changes. We plan to target youth through English movies,” said RK Mehrotra, general manager, Delight.
Patna-based Ranjan Sinha, spokesperson of the Bihar-Jharkhand Motion Pictures Association, said the association has no plans to combat cricket fever.
“We are not doing anything special. The cinema halls here will continue showing old films like Patiala House and 7 Khoon Maaf. In many movie halls, dubbed films from the south are also running. And we will continue releasing Bhojpuri films,” he said.
TN Kapoor, a partner in the Indore-based Bharti Film Distributors, a firm which has been distributing movies since 1948, said: “We are planning to show old movies like Raj Kapoor’s Aag and some recent hits like Dabangg, Wanted and Yamla Pagla Deewana. We will also screen a few dubbed English movies.
Suhel Warsi, a Lucknow-based producer, said: “Usually we show whatever we have. As such there is no special planning.”
The turn of events is a blessing in disguise for films like Tanu Weds Manu that are facing little competition.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 14th, 2011.