Dry run for films in cricket season?

While Bollywood is a craze, cricket is religion in India. And with the World Cup kick-starting on February 19 and ending only six weeks later, does that spell a dry run for films then?

Pramod Arora, CEO of a multiplex chain, says business will get affected. “Two big films are being released at the onset of the World Cup. These films are big enough to continue occupancy in theatres for three weeks. But the rest of the three weeks will be a little dull with small-budget and regional films releasing,” he says.

Trade analyst Amod Mehra seconds Pramod, “Only the small budget and regional films will benefit. With no big releases during the period,  business will be affected.”

While some theatres are resorting to screening cricket matches to generate revenue, Arora argues that it is not such a smart idea after all: “Screening matches live is not a big help. If there are four matches being played a day, we can surely have four film shows.”

Another distributor refutes saying these tournaments do not really affect the scenario: “These tournaments, as per our research, do not make a huge dent to films. They have become a yearly feature, just like Diwali or Holi, so we are pretty much confident of the films doing well. Since big banners don’t want their films to clash with the matches, small-budget films stand to gain.”

Distributor Shyam Shroff opines that people will flock to theatres if the film is good. “Doing business would be tough… But then, no one can stop a good movie.”

Siddharth Roy Kapoor, CEO of a film production house, says, “Before we fixed the release date of Thank You, we did take the World Cup into consideration. But I don’t see any reason why a good movie should not do good business even then. Besides, we will be the only one playing for over three weeks.”