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Journalism of Courage
A Bollywood biggie and a time-tested Bengali institution are expected to lure the crowds back to cinema halls this week
We can blame it on the global recession, we can blame it on the Mumbai terror attacks but it all boils down to one thing8212; these are bleak times for film business. Sample this: of the five Bollywood films released last week, Maharathi, Dil Kabaddi, Meerabai Not Out, Oh, My God!! and Gumnam, not one managed to make an impact at the box office. Even recent Tollywood releases like Love Story and Chiro Sathi have hardly set the cash register jingling.
Giving the Bollywood Badshah company at the halls will be our very own Feluda, who travels to glitzy Hong Kong in his new adventure Tintorettor Jishu. 8220;With the festive season setting in, all schools and colleges will remain closed for winter holidays so we are expecting record footfalls for Tintorettor Jishu. Moreover, Feluda is an iconic character in Bengal appealing to a diverse cross-section of audience predominated mainly by the family crowd,8221; says Virendra Marya.
Though it might not be exactly practical to pit these two releases against each other, Arijit Dutta, owner of Priya Cinema and Vice President of Eastern India Motion Pictures Association feels that in Kolkata films that appeal to the Bengali middle class have an enduring appeal. 8220;Bollywood blockbusters create initial euphoria and then fizzle out. Feluda films manage sustained box office returns,8221; he says.
