This Friday, June 12, is going to witness something that happens very rarely in the Indian film industry- not one, not two- nine films are releasing, all in cinemas, creating an unusually crowded
marketplace.
The line-up cuts across languages and genres, ranging from a partition drama like Imtiaz Ali’s Main Vaapas Aaunga, to even a Steven Spielberg film, Disclosure Day! The exact list is: Manoj Bajpayee's Governor, director Imtiaz Ali's Main Vaapas Aaunga, Kangana Ranaut's Bharat Bhhagya Vidhaata, Vikram Bhatt's Haunted 3D, The Narmada Story, Heer Sara, and the Hollywood films Scary Movie, Disclosure Day and Backrooms.
Producer Anand Pandit, who is backing Haunted, is unperturbed, “Achha hai na! Itne zyaada log theatre jaayenge na. It’s the mega films which need to earn ₹300 crores and upwards, who have issues with clashes. But the films which are smaller, they are not affected. The number of screens we have got for our film is enough.”
Trade analyst Taran Adarsh, however, believes the industry needs better planning. “No one wants to stop their film’s release. It’s not right to have so many films. You don’t get enough shows or footfalls, as we don’t have enough screens currently. As a result, the money invested is not recovered in most cases. Producers need to plan out, it’s not something like a festival release which people can’t change. We need to study the market and then announce a release date,” he says. Meanwhile, Hum Angrezon Ke Zamaane Ke Jailor Hain, which is late actor Asrani’s last film, has postponed it’s release by a week to June 19. Director Rakesh Sawant announced the same today. There is also going to be a holdover of four films from last Friday- Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai, Bandar, Masters of the Universe and Peddi.
Filmmaker Chinmay Mandlekar, who has directed Manoj Bajpayee’s Governor, points out that such situations are almost inevitable given the limited number of release windows available. “Firstly, there are only 52 Fridays in a year, there is bound to be a Friday where there will be multiple releases. We would have loved if it had been lesser crowded. June surprisingly this year has been the busiest... normally April or May, which is vacation time, or Diwali has this rush. Ab yeh ho gaya hai toh ho gaya hai, kya karein. Let’s hope every film gets its audience. I am happy for the audience that they are in a situation where there are multiple films, it’s been drought post Covid in theatres.”
Rishabh Suri writes for the daily Entertainment & Lifestyle supplement HT City. From Bollywood to Hollywood, from Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam films, to OTT and television- he covers it all.