Friday: 14 films hit screens in Bengaluru Saturday: Theatres shut! What next?

In response to the coronavirus threat and as a precautionary measure to stop its spread, the Karnataka government issued a directive on Friday asking all cinema halls to shut down for a week. This comes close on the heels of the Delhi government’s decision to keep all cinema halls closed till March 31, which affected films like Angrezi Medium that just hit theatres and Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar, Sir and Sooryavanshi that were targeting release dates this month.With movie halls in Kerala also shut, regional cinema in the south is looking at an uncertain future — at least for the time being.
With Bengaluru accounting for a major share in terms of collections, not just for its local Kannada film industry and Bollywood, but Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Malayalam and many other regional industries also, there will be a severe dip in collections, say industry insiders.
This week, for instance, Bengaluru had 14 new film releases, which included movies in Kannada, Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu and even French. Although the government order now is only for a week’s closure, it is likely to be extended, putting the release plans of many films in disarray. The most affected, so far, were those who chose to stick with their release plans this week.
Priority for films that released this week
Producer-distributor Karthik Gowda says, “All the films that released this week, including a few keenly-awaited Kannada titles, will have massive setbacks, given the investments they made on the release and distribution. Ideally, when movie halls reopen for business, they should be given priority to release, but that is for the Karnataka film chamber to decide.”
A theatre owner from Magadi Road adds, “Since the COVID-19 scare, movie halls across the city have been operating with minimal occupancy, The government directive comes at a good time and hopefully, once we reopen, things will be back to normal and people will come to watch movies. Hopefully, the new films from this week, will be the first to release again, as they are the worst affected.”
Raksh, who debuted with this week’s Naragunda Bandaya, says, “We respect the Chief Minister’s decision to prioritise the health and well-being of people above all else. Although the film had a good response in other centres, we are pulling it from movie halls across the state, until the situation gets better. We have been assured by the film chamber that our film will get priority to re-release.”
Sooryavanshi, Sir postpone release
After days of speculation whether the Akshay Kumar-starrer Sooryavanshi would brave the situation and stick to its original release date, March 24, its makers have now decided to push it. A statement from the team read, “Due to the recent coronavirus outbreak, we, the makers, have decided to postpone the release of Sooryavanshi, keeping in mind the health and safety of the audience. Sooryavanshi will be back when the time is right.”
Tillotama Shome-starrer Sir, which was to be released on March 20, has also been postponed. Shiladitya Bora, who is spearheading the India release of the film, tweeted, “Bearing in mind public health concerns and the advisory from the health ministry, we have decided to postpone the release of Sir. We look forward to sharing the film with our home audience in India and will announce an updated release date ASAP. Meanwhile, we urge everyone to stay safe and take all necessary health precautions.”
Kannada films also follow suit
Kushka, directed by Vikram Yoganand, was supposed to hit screens on March 20. “We are deferring the release of our film to April. We had taken a hit and seen how people were scared to step out with our previous release, Ondu Shikariya Kathe. We realised that releasing a film in times of panic is a bad business decision,” says actor Nihal Rajput, who is bringing Kushka to theatres. The makers of Turtu Nirgamana have also pushed their release ahead.
Roberrt to stay on course
Director Tharun Sudhir, whose Roberrt is slated to release on April 9, says, “We are not making any announcements as of now, as we think the situation should be under control by then. There’s still close to a month’s time and things could clear up by then. However, if we do have to defer the release, we will, as it will be inevitable.”
Will Vijay’s Master be affected?
An industry insider, on the basis of anonymity, maintained, “Rumours in industry circles is that given the situation in Kerala and Karnataka, Vijay’s much-anticipated film Master may have to look at a new release date. If the theatres remain shut beyond April first week, the team will have to reconsider, since Karnataka and Kerala are major market players for them. This is purely speculative,though, as of now.”
Will Les Miserables release again?
Sanjay Suri, who’s involved with the India release of the French film Les Miserables, which also hit theatres this weekend, had earlier stated, “We shall wait for the situation to improve and see if a phase-wise release is possible when the shutdown is lifted. Safety is most important.”
Films already in theatres will suffer as well
The spread of coronavirus and the resulting shutdown in places like Delhi, Karnataka and Kerala will also affect the business of films that were released in the previous weeks. Yogesh Raizada of Wave Cinemas says, “Had the occupancy in cinema halls not dipped last week because of the coronavirus scare, Baaghi 3 would have done even better.” Ahmed Khan, director of Baaghi 3, says, “The safety of the audience is extremely important. We would never want their lives to be at risk. It’s unfortunate that the theatres in Delhi will be shut for a while now and that will affect the overall collections of my film, but some things are beyond our control. We must follow what the government bodies decide.”
Anubhav Sinha, whose directorial Thappad is also still in cinemas, says, “Thappad has completed 80% of its run at the box office. Delhi contributes about 15% to the collections. That will be impacted but we have to live with it because logon ki jaan se badhkar kuch nahi hota. But we should not panic because that can just make the situation more difficult to handle. Apart from pulling down shutters of theatres in Delhi, governments across states and UTs need to educate people about this disease.”
— With inputs from Niharika Lal and Rachana Dubey