IPL is no longer a threat to Tollywood

On April 16, as SRK's Knights crossed swords with Team Hyderabad, a south Kolkata theatre marked a decent footfall.The movie in question was Goutam Ghose's Sankhachil, which released just a day earlier. The film registered a similar occupancy at the same theatre again on April 19 when the Knights took on Team Punjab. Gone are the days when the starry cricket gala would pose a potent threat to Tollywood.This year, four major Bengali films have been packed into April-May and the makers are not shying away from clashing with the SRKDhoni-Kohli brigade head on. Jitters have given way to confidence; theatres are as packed as Eden Gardens.This year, IPL began on April 9 and Shankhachil was the first release in the cricket season.Prosenjit Chatterjee, who plays the film's lead, says, ���When IPL was first launched, it was a cause of concern for the industry . Even national releases used to be few and far between. But over the last two years, many big films have released around this time.Despite the fact that IPL has its own audience, the craze seems to have taken the beating.Having said that, only those films are working that were meant to work.���
Rajib, whose Jeet-starrer Power released during IPL, says the cricket extravaganza has become more like remake films -you ought to accept that they are there. ���Today , the matches are seen like news highlights; no one catches 40-odd overs if there is no big game. Also, most matches start late in the evenings and filmmakers know only one show can at best get affected by a big match.Though I used to be worried initially, now IPL is no longer a threat,��� says the director.
Kaushik Ganguly too feels that the IPL craze is fast fading out. The filmmaker didn't think twice before releasing his film, Cinemawala, at a time when the league is in full swing.���There is too much of cricket these days.Movies, in comparison, are fewer.This season, theatres have been as packed as the Eden and no one is complaining. Anything new is bound to have a lot of craze. Today , if a 3D film is launched in Bengal, everyone will like to catch it. Also, IPL has become a part of our system now,��� he says. Another movie, whose first week end will clash with the IPL finals, is Praktan. Shiboprosad Mukherjee, who has directed the movie alongside Nandita Roy, tells us, ���How much cricket can you take! We only worry when Team Kolkata or some other big team is taking the 22 yards by storm. IPL can only hamper a few shows, it can't change a film's fate at the box office.
Frankly, it doesn't give us headache anymore.���