Playing it right

Siddharth Roy Kapoor,CEO,UTV Motion Pictures believes cricket and films can co-exist,if the releases are planned correctly.

Siddharth Roy Kapoor,CEO,UTV Motion Pictures believes cricket and films can co-exist,if the releases are planned correctly.

India has two religions,cricket and films and I think both can co-exist. People will not stop watching films for cricket or vice versa. But it is a self-fulfilling prophecy that has been going on,which is why producers are also wary of releasing films during this period. One cannot blame them because it is true that people will prefer sitting in front of the TV to watch cricket rather than go the theatres. Having said that it is also true that producers cannot write off the one-and-a-half month period of Indian Premiere League (IPL) and cram it to rest of the year. Especially since we have to also contend with the exam times,shraddh period and Ramzaan when there is a dip in the film going audiences.

The World Cup did have an impact specially the final match between India and Sri Lanka. The euphoria continued on Sunday so even those shows got affected but I believe there will be a surge in the audience this weekend. A big film like Thank You is releasing after a long time and people are waiting to watch an entertainer. Which is why,the producers should actually time their releases in the right manner. Either they should release at the beginning of IPL,when the game is yet to pick up or in the middle when the league matches are going on. Thats because at that point there is a dip in the cricket viewership. Producers should take advantage of that. In fact,since the first IPL,that started four years ago,we will be seeing more big releases this time. Thank You will be followed by Dum Maaro Dum on April 22,which is another big film though small films have been releasing every weekend.

Last week multiplexes screened the World Cup semi-final and final,which as a stunt is fine but cannot be done on a sustained basis (like they had tried a year ago with IPL). Theatres should stick to screening films. By showing cricket they are circumventing films that is giving them the bulk of the revenues. I am sure theatres will not appreciate a producer saying he will release the movie on DVD and DTH the same day as the theatrical release.

As told by Chaya Unnikrishnan

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