2020- WORST Financial Year For Cinema: Radhe, Laxmmi Bomb, Sooryavanshi, 83, Coolie No 1 In Limbo?- EXCLUSIVE
With things coming to a standstill across the globe, the entertainment industry has taken a massive blow too. We spoke to trade analyst, Taran Adarsh to get a 360 degree perspective on the situation and the road ahead
"2020 will unfortunately be the worst financial year for global cinema," Trade analyst Taran Adarsh expresses with deep concern. The way situation concerning COVID-19 is shaping up, globally, a lot of industries have taken the blow head on- Entertainment industry is one of them. This morning, Taran tweeted that theatres in New Zealand, Australia and Fiji will be shut till May 23.
Indian films like Sooryavanshi, 83 have already been delayed indefinitely and many more slated to release in April like Gulabo Sitabo (Amitabh Bachchan), Janhvi Kapoor's Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl- all of their releases are in a limbo, as the current situation in India with the Coronavirus is not under control.
#BreakingNews: ALL theatres [Event, Village] shut for 8 weeks *till May-end* 2020 in #Australia, #NZ, #Fiji... NO new release in that region *till May-end*... Hoyts shut too.
— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) March 23, 2020
FYI: #Indian filmmakers, distributors, Studios. #Sooryavanshi #83TheFilm #Radhe #LaxmmiBomb #CoolieNo1 pic.twitter.com/yojTIOwCzw
With the latest development about the theatres being shut in Aus, NZ and Fiji till May end, we got in touch with Taran Adarsh, to get a 360 degree perspective about the critical scenario.
"Overseas is a big market for Indian cinema. Australia, NZ and Fiji contribute big to the collections of an Indian film. If we release a film in India, we have to release it simultaneously overseas. So, with Australia, NZ and Fiji shutting cinemas till May 23, I feel the Indian filmmakers, studios and distributors, who were at all planning to come in the months of April and May, will have to reconsider their release dates too."
Besides the one pending from April, the decision also impacts big films like Laxmmi Bomb, Coolie No 1, Radhe- which were planning a May release.
Another point which cannot be ignored in this situation is that, even if things settle down a bit, entertainment will be the last thing anyone will think about for some time. According to Taran Adarsh, the habit of cinema-going will have to be re-cultivated in people after being hit with a pandemic.
Taran adds, "Entertainment is last on anyone's mind when we are hit by a pandemic. You need to take care of your health first. The reschedules cannot have a specific date because we need to wait for the global situation to stabilize. Small films, which only release in India, may hit theatres, that too if things here settle down." Adding that after this morning's announcement about the theatres in NZ, Aus and Fiji, local distributors in India have also written to the studios, that they will have to reconsider release dates.
We also asked Taran if this would lead to a mad rush in the month of June with so many films piled up to release. "Of course, it will. We have 52 Fridays, out of them we would have lost around 24, that is if we are looking at a June release, which leaves us with just 28 Fridays. Undoubtedly, there will be clashes but we won't be able to help it. No one knew that we will be hit by the pandemic," concludes Taran Adarsh.
Image Source:- Imdb