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NEW DELHI : After a gap of more than a month, the Hindi film industry will resume theatrical releases this weekend with Badhaai Do, a successor to the 2018 superhit Badhaai Ho starring Ayushmann Khurrana, Gajraj Rao and Neena Gupta.
A new film is lined up for release every coming week, including Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi (25 February), Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Jhund (4 March), Prabhas’ Radhe Shyam (11 March), Akshay Kumar’s Bachchan Pandey (18 March) and the much-awaited RRR (25 March), among others.
Dubbed South Indian films releasing alongside are also seen as crowd-pullers, after the success of Allu Arjun’s Pushpa: The Rise- Part One. Ravi Teja’s Telugu film Khiladi will release this Friday while Ajith’s Tamil film Valimai releases on 24 February. Later in the summer, Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha, period drama KGF- Chapter 2 and Tiger Shroff’s Heropanti 2 will vie for audiences’ attention.
“With the third wave starting to wane and cases on the decline, restrictions across key states have been relaxed, bringing some respite and hope for the recovery of the movie entertainment ecosystem. It’s more than fair to say that cinemas will be back in action with a power-packed calendar over the next few weeks," said Ashish Saksena, chief operating officer, cinemas at ticketing site BookMyShow, who expects Badhaai Do to kick-start the box office, followed by Gangubai Kathiawadi.
Rajendar Singh Jyala, chief programming officer at INOX Leisure Ltd agreed that the period following the coming weekend looks promising with the major difference being that unlike the first two waves, producers have been quicker in making announcements and locking dates. “We’ve also reopened much faster. Earlier, everyone was unsure if people would come back to cinemas at all. Then after the second wave, the south took the lead while Hindi films waited it out, but now, all producers have gained confidence," Jyala said. In the coming weeks, he expects other big-ticket films such as Jersey, Prithviraj and Jayeshbhai Jordaar to also announce dates.
Kamal Gianchandani, CEO, PVR Pictures Ltd pointed out that a rich line-up of films has waited for cinemas to reopen. “The first and second wave may have seen films that were ready and waiting for release, move directly to digital. But the films that are opting for direct-to-digital hereon are those specifically made for digital platforms or films that the producers feel would find it difficult to jostle for space among the big-ticket films in a slightly truncated year coupled with the curbs on capacity and night curfews," he said. The restrictions on cinemas and malls are harsh considering that not a single case has been linked to cinemas in the past two years, Gianchandani added.
Others say significant recovery may take a while as more mass-market films are slated for later. “Badhaai Do is not going to gel with audiences in small-towns and single screens here are looking forward far more to Khiladi, that will be dubbed in Hindi," said Bihar-based independent exhibitor Vishek Chauhan, adding that many cinemas in tier-II and tier-III towns are still playing Pushpa. Regional language films have done well, as have their dubbed versions in Hindi-speaking markets. Movies such as Bangarraju (Telugu), Hridayam (Malayalam), and Yeregavuye Kirikiri (Tulu) have held their own in the absence of big Hindi movies across India.
“The competitive landscape had dried up and we were able to get a long and exclusive runway which is a unique space to be in," said Siddharth Anand Kumar, vice-president, films and television, Saregama India
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