THE PONGAL NO-SHOW!

Every year, just before every big festival, we hear the release schedules of a horde of new releases - only for many of them to be pulled out of the race. The reasons are many; lack of theatres and exhibitors, fear of losing out to the big movie of the bunch or drowning out in the wave of the big ticket release. This Pongal too, witnessed few such movies pulling out of the race.

Vishwaroopam - Ever since Kamal announced his decision to beam the movie using DTH, trouble has been brewing for Vishwaroopam. With theatre owners and distributors up in arms against his decision, Kamal was forced to seek police protection. Finally, the decision to release the movie for Pongal stands postponed and the DTH operators have also stopped accepting new bookings.

Samar - Vishal's Samar is also in the reckoning for a possible Pongal release. Having been wrapped up a few months earlier, the movie is all but ready for release. Blame it on the lack of theatres, Samar is still doubtful for this Pongal but the team might pull a surprise and manage to appear on time in their listed theaters.

Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga - This romantic comedy, featuring the up and coming Sivakarthikeyan and Vimal wisely stayed out of the Pongal race for fear of being drowned in the hullabaloo of big Pongal releases.

Aadhi Bhagavan - The Ameer directed action thriller that has been in production for a long time now was speculated to be released for Pongal. This Jayam Ravi - Neetu Chandra starrer will now wait for another suitable release date.