| IPL
JITTERS IN KOLLYWOOD ONCE AGAIN! |
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It is summer again. And, while that is
not wholly good news for all those who
hate to be baked in the harsh summer sun,
there are certain things about summer
that are definitely enjoyable. No one
would agree more with this than school
children who have two entire months of
holidays coming up. And, film buffs too
will be pumped because this is the time
of the year where the density of releases
reaches the maximum. But, wait, haven’t
the last two summers been relatively quite
affairs when it came to movie releases?
Yes, we have seen the traditional April-May
release season getting shifted to June-July.
While June-July is still peak summer (and
if you are in Chennai you know that it
will continue well into September) season
in terms of heat, the holiday season no
longer exists. Yet, there has been shift
over the past couple of years. This is
not to say that April-May have been totally
devoid of releases. But, there definitely
has been a guarded approach against releasing
the really big films during this period.
The reason - something everyone has heard
of – the IPL.
The IPL could be the reason we might have
to wait a month or two longer for films
like Singam, Paiyaa, Sura and many others
to hit screens.
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All set to begin in just over a week’s time,
the IPL has undeniably eaten heavily and perhaps totally
into the summer pie of cinema. It is not only Kollywood
that is affected. Even the seemingly all powerful
Bollywood has had its share of IPL jitters which have
got even stronger with huge names such as SRK, Preity
Zinta and Shilpa Shetty associating themselves with
franchises. Well, when the fans have the opportunity
of seeing Ganguly batting on the ground and SRK cheering
from the stands, then even a hugely popular movie
like My Name is Khan can look comparatively less inviting.
That is exactly what is worrying Kollywood at the
moment. The IPL begins on March 12th and extends to
the third week of April. It is, of course, a relief
that May has been spared this time round. But, even
in the current scenario, the whole of April will see
cinema take a backseat to cricket which remains the
greatest Indian passion. Even India’s 4-1 drubbing
of Pakistan at the Hockey World Cup was not able to
put an end to the series of Sachin Tendulkar specials
appearing on the sports page after his double century.
Kollywood has a fully loaded line up this summer.
But, the finicky issue is: who will have the courage
to go head on against the IPL. A producer will need
immense faith in his product to muster up courage
for such a confrontation. It would be great if there
are movies that can inspire such faith in their makers.
But, if everyone shirks away from throwing the gauntlet
at the IPL, then we are bound to have an overcrowded
and stacked up May with films of all types and sizes
scrambling for theaters which will definitely be detrimental
to small and quality products that need space and
time to breathe and flourish.
The list of films that have completed most of their
work and are waiting for the right time to strike
include some of the most expected products of the
year like Paiyaa, Suriya’s Hari-directed Singam,
Vijay’s 50th film Sura, Tamil cinema’s
first cowboy flick in 37 years – Irumbu Kottai
Murattu Singam, Arya’s period flick Madarasa
Pattinam, Jayam Ravi’s Thillalangadi and Jiiva’s
Katcheri Aarambam.
If such a list of releases decide to hold back during
the IPL and go all out in May, then the above mentioned
pile up is sure to come into play which might stretch
the crowded period to June, which is the intended
release period for Mani Rathnam’s Raavan, not
to forget the tentative July margin for Endhiran.
This possibility of big releases having to encroach
into each other’s plans is not the best thing
to happen for the industry.
Another aspect to look at when talking about the IPL
effect is the fate of the films that are now running
in theaters. Come next week and the IPL begins, which
might seriously hamper the long-run prospects of many
newly released films including Vinnai Thaandi Vruvaaya
and this Friday’s openers like Aval Peyar Tamizharasi
and Thambikku Indha Ooru.
Let’s just hope that the cricket is enjoyable,
the movies are good and that a healthy balance is
struck between the two during the holiday season so
that tinsel town doesn’t get yorked by the IPL.
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