The june jostle for Bollywood

Summer has always been the favoured season for Bollywood in terms of the number of releases, considering that schools and colleges are shut for annual vacations. But of late, the cricket season has been playing a dampener around this time of the year, especially for films releasing in the months of April and May.  Most filmmakers would jostle and plan their release dates well in advance to avoid a clash during the vacation period. However, since the advent of the cricket season, the number of films being lined up for release in the month of April and May has drastically reduced, making June a very commercially viable month for releasing films. And this year too, it’s going to be a June bonanza for B-Town.

First up is Akshay Kumar-Sonakshi Sinha starrer Rowdy Rathore hits the screen on June 1. Previously slotted for a June 15 release, the producers decided to set the release date early keeping in mind the conclusion of the cricket season. Producer Siddharth Roy Kapur, says, “Rowdy Rathore will now release on June 1, the first big release after the conclusion of the cricket season.” Trade analyst Amod Mehra explains, “As a rule, June and July have always been very popular considering schools and colleges  just reopen. Also there aren’t many big budget films releasing until May 27, barring a few so the film producers want to take control of the market immediately after the cricket season ends.”

Other films lined up for release in June include Abhay Deol-Emraan Hashmi starrer Shanghai, Vivek Oberoi’s Zilla Gaziabad, Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur, Priyanka Chopra and Shahid Kapoor’s starrer Teri Meri Kahani. Besides that there are also a couple of other small budget films lined up for release. Trade analyst, Taran Adarsh however says, there are a lot of films releasing this year during the cricket season as well.

“The schools are shut for vacations and people have realised that they need entertainment besides cricket and that is why we have a couple of films releasing in April and May. But June has always been a favourite month for releasing films and it is no different this year either.”