Bollywood is in a complete mess and if the experts are to be believed, the worst is yet to come.
To begin with, it is no secret that till the date, 2009 has not been a good year for Bollywood, with some big budgeted films like Chandni Chowk to China, Tasveer, Aloo Chat, 13B and Delhi 6 all failing miserably at the Box office.
At a time when films are not doing well at the box office and the Bollywood has also suffered due to the impact of slowdown in the world economy, producers probably saw no other way to sustain themselves than to ask for a better share from the owners of cinema halls, who screen their film. But, since the owners of multiplexes had their own problems and were not ready for that, it led to a situation, they went on an indefinite strike and refused to screen films of those produces, who asks for better share.
Yes, all this is old story. The latest trouble for the producers, who are yet to sort out their differences with the multiplex owners, is that how will they deal with the after effects of the multiplex strike. As one of the trade experts puts it, “There are too many films lined up for release and if the strike in multiplexes does not end soon, this list is going to increase even further. What this means is that when all these films release together, neither the viewer nor the multiplex owners will have enough time for any of these films.” Further, point out trade experts, “If till now, a film gets two or three weeks to show its performance, from now on, if it does not click in the first week itself, the cinema halls owners are bound to stop its screening.”
The experts also say, “It is also not as if you can reverse this trend by releasing more than one big budget films every week. Experiences indicate that an average cinema lover has the capacity to watch only one good film every week and if he is fed with an overdose, probably he will need to select which film to watch. The resultant division of viewership will lead to a situation where all the releases will flop at the Box Office.”
Well, though some producers are thinking of postponing their releases to 2010, that may not help the situation either since most of the producers have borrowed money to make these films and if do not make it to the screen at an appropriate time, they may have to pay a heavy price for it.
So, it’s a tough situation out there. And the only way to get out of it according to everyone concerned is to have a few hits. Hopefully, these hits are hitting the screen soon.
