Board Exams, IPL Hit Bollywood Hard!

Sri Lanka's ex-army chief ends fastMarch is usually a dry month for the Hindi film industry thanks to the Class 10 and 12 board examinations and so the industry has little to offer in terms of big budget outings.

Adding fuel to fire will be Indian Premier League (IPL) matches on the big screen. The IPL event starts on March 12.

Mr. Amit Awasthi, manager (programming and operations) of Spice Cinemas, said, "We have no options this month. Whatever comes our way, we'll show. March is a lean month as always due to exams. We are hoping some content works and brings in footfalls through word of mouth, though we'll also be showing IPL at one of our screens at normal cinema rates."

"There's really not much to do (this month), but we are trying to do whatever we can to get that additional footfall. There are three to four big Hollywood releases coming up and some small Bollywood movies. We are also screening IPL in cinemas at standard ticket rates and with additional packages," Mr. Tusshar Dhingra, COO of Big Cinemas said.

The flicks released during the opening week of the month including "Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge?", "Road, Movie", "Hello Zindagi", "Thanks Maa" and "Rokkk" witnessed weak response from audiences.

Hopes were high from the Ajay-Konkona starrer "Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge?", based on Sharad Joshi's tale, but it didn't work in spite of the actuality that there wasn't any rivalry at the ticket window.

Dev Benegal's "Road, Movie" also failed to impress viewers.

Movies queued up this month comprises "Hide N Seek" and "Na Ghar Ke Na Ghaat Ke" and "Swaha".

"Right Yaa Wrong" is the only film, which boasts of big names including Sunny Deol and Irrfan Khan in the leads.

Yogesh Raizada, corporate head (cinemas) of Wave Cinemas, stated, "Movies will keep on coming, they are not stopping, but the occupancy and expectations won't be there as it is an annual dull period. We are trying to fill it up by screening IPL and that too at prices equivalent to cinema tickets. The best part is exams will get over by maximum March 25 and IPL will build up hype by that time, which sounds good."

Multiplexes are making efforts to make the most of IPL fever. The tournament will end on April 25 and multiplexes have warmed up to the proposal of screening the matches.

UFO Moviez India CEO Rajesh Mishra said, "IPL has become a strong property. On top of that, no big budget film is releasing during this period. So, screening matches will be beneficial for the halls because no major film shows will be affected and they (theatres) will have something to fall back on for sustenance."

About 800 screens all over India are likely to screen the IPL matches at movie ticket rates ranging from Rs 120-180.

Other films lined up for release in March are Ekta Kapoor's "Love Sex Aur Dhokha", Vikram Bhatt's "Shaapit", Sushant Singh-Hrishita Bhatt-starrer "Idiot Box" and Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan's"Lahore".

March will also see the release of Shyam Benegal's talked about film "Well Done Abba" together with "Hum Tum Aur Ghost" and "Crime Partner". All the movies are releasing March 26.

April will start with the release of Shahid-starrer "Paathshala", Vivek Oberoi's"Prince" and "Phoonk 2". Other movies during April include "Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai", "Tum Milo Toh Sahi", "Apartment", "Mirch", "Run Bhola Run" and "It's A Wonderful After Life". (With Input from Agencies)