Tollywood upbeat with several big releases this IPL season

KOLKATA: There was a time when the IPL craze significantly impacted the film industry, with many entertainment enthusiasts glued to cricket match telecasts and some even going for the matches at Eden Gardens.
This year, the tournament runs till May 26, with matches in Kolkata scheduled for April 21, 26, and May 4, 7, 23, and 25. With Poila Baisakh approaching and several big-ticket movies slated for release in both April and May, is the IPL no longer a threat to Bengal's entertainment industry?
One school of thought insists that the Bengali movie-going and IPL audience will not necessarily overlap. Those who have reserved their dates to watch a Bengali movie will do so, irrespective of what is transpiring on the field. That's why it makes sense to release entertaining content in April and May when there are holidays and no significant examinations.
Actor and producer Rituparna Sengupta, who decided on the release date of ‘Puratawn' as April 11 merely three days after KKR's Eden Gardens fixture on April 8 against Lucknow Super Giants, said, "IPL is important. I have and will still attend the matches. But I feel people will watch the matches only on certain days. That will not clash with their interest in watching ‘Puratawn' that will see the return of Sharmila Tagore to Bengali cinema after 14 years. The holiday season, coupled with the spirit of Poila Boishakh, is an opportune time to nationally release a film like ‘Puratawn' that also has subtitles."
Director Srijit Mukherji is an avid cricket enthusiast and continues to go to the stadium to watch the IPL matches. He acknowledges that the IPL fervour hasn't interfered with finalising the release date of ‘Kill Bill Society' on April 11. Mukherji emphasises that empirical evidence indicates Bengali film releases have consistently flourished during this season. "IPL happens every year. By that logic no Poila Baisakh or May release should have worked. But they always do almost every year," Mukherji said.
That is also a reason why director Satrajit Sen is not breaking his head over the IPL threat while deciding on the April 18 release date of his ‘Check In Cheque Out', which marks the comeback of Ratul Shankar to the screen 25 years after his debut in Rituparno Ghosh's ‘Utsab'. Three days later, there is a KKR match at Eden Gardens with Gujarat Titans. But Sen is not perturbed about the match diminishing his viewership.
"We had a substantial percentage of our audiences migrate to watch the matches when IPL had initially commenced. Surprisingly, a considerable number of women who previously showed little interest in cricket ventured to the stadium in large groups," Sen recalled.
But cricket weariness and alternative entertainment options have ensured that the IPL fervour is no longer a concern. "The cinema-going audience has diminished but people will watch a film if the content is compelling. Word of mouth remains paramount. Rather than the IPL enthusiasm, the greater challenge is maintaining the film's theatrical run until word-of-mouth publicity gains momentum," Sen elaborated.