Dearth of Cinema...

Yes, thats exactly what I am feeling currently... There's a damned 'famine' in the world of 'good' cinema releasing in India... I live in a suburb of Mumbai called 'Navi Mumbai' (or New Bombay, if u like...) and we are fortunate to have 3 'multiplexes' in our close vicinity... Oops, did I say 'fortunate'... I'm sure our friends of the Producers Guild wouldn't agree on that statement... They have conveniently withdrawn any forthcoming films from releasing in multiplexes... And they want the public, through the media of course, to think that they are 'missing out' on something...

But wait, has anyone checked the Release schedules for April ? Conspicuously, there aren't too many big releases scheduled in April anyhow... I had noticed this even before the entire hullaballoo over 'profit-sharing' had begun... The reason... IPL2...

Yes, the big Bollywood producers were smart enough not to schedule any major releases during the IPL2 season, especially after the solid beating films had gotten last summer over the debut IPL season... Seriously, the only films slated to release in April'09 (as per bollywoodhungama.com) are Nagesh Kukunoor's '8x10 Tasveer' & some movie called 'Meri Padosan' (??)... Tasveer is produced by Percept Picture Company, which is not routinely associated with too many 'main-stream' films... And as usual, the big producers will steam roll them in this fight over 'revenue shares'.... However, the producers' plans must've been dented somewhat by the delay in IPL2... But its not really a big issue for them... A delay of 8 days will not dent thier bottom lines... And the multiplex owners have already started tying up & making plans of screening IPL on the big screens....

So who are the losers here ? One is clearly the smaller producers like Percept, which rake in a huge chunk of their revenues from the mutliplex junta... The other, is clearly the avid cinema-goer who prefers the comfort & flexibility offered by mutliplexes over the monotony of the single-screens... I think it'll be a pity if Nagesh Kukunoor's Tasveer loses out in case it is not released at multiplexes... Poor Nagesh has already suffered at the hands of BIG entertainment which apparently backed out half-way from his Aashayein, sayin it wasn't bankable enough... Percept had stepped in there too & will now be releasing the film... I seriously hope that Percept decides to stay out of the battle & release Tasveer in multiplexes too... From their point of view, the film would get an unimpeded run at the box office with no others films slated for release, provided of course, that the film is any good... But going by Nagesh's track record, it should be something to watch out for...

I am a fan of cricket as well as movies, but my appetite usually needs a healthy mix of both, to avoid an upset... :P ... I can only hope that there are some good angrezi movies releasing in April, which make up for the lack in Hindi entertainment...

I will try & keep the blog updated with my experiences, if any... until then.. good bye...