Bollywood's biggest movies wary of cricket season

With the shadow of the upcoming cricket season looming large on the entertainment horizon, though not worried, seems like Bollywood’s playing it safe in the coming two months. Trade points out that from April to May end, there’s expected to be a dip in the number of big-budget releases to combat the cricket tournaments.

Industry insiders state that there are hardly two to three big budget releases including Housefull 2 and Tezz lined up, while there are another 10 to 11 mid-to-small-budget releases including Ferrari Ki Sawaari and Vicky Donor expected to release as of now. A segment of the industry feels that it’s a wise decision to not up the risk by having too many biggies lined up, but there are others who feel that the cricket season is not likely to affect film business. “Only films releasing around the vital matches are bound to get affected,” they say.

Says trade analyst Taran Adarsh, “I don’t think that the cricket season is really that big a worry for filmmakers today. If any effect, it will only be felt towards the last few final matches.” Referring to the previous years, he adds that over the years, the excitement has been at a steady and good films have always managed to click irrespective of the cricket season. “Besides, there’s a large number of film buffs, who are not into cricket at all, so the films’ business are less likely to be affected to a very large extent,” adds Taran.  Filmmaker Sajid Khan too feels that a good film is bound to do well, so there’s no worry of being caught on the wrong foot with the release even if during cricket season.

“There’s no denying that barring a few, most filmmakers are playing it safe and saving up releases for a later date, but the fact is that no date comes with a guarantee these days, especially when it comes to the big budget films,” agrees a distributor. “Once the cricket season is over, there’s a sudden rush to release films as no one wants their films to clash with Eid or Diwali big releases later on. Even that’s a risk for small releases. So, in comparison, releasing their films during the cricket season is a better bet,” he adds. But the number of releases have a different story to tell, say insiders, who point out that even if small, the cricket craze is bound to eat into a film’s business. And going by that alone, seems like Bollywood’s not in a mood to take such open risks where biggies are involved, and is instead opting to play a safe match at the BO so far.