Stifling movie theatres with two big Hollywood franchise films and a barrage of experimental, semi-experimental Hindi films most of them directed by debutants, the movie business promises to get very hot this week. What with the sultry Priyanka Chopra in Baywatch competing with Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman.
The foreign press has already declared Baywatch a dud. But the film's Indian distributors are undeterred. They plan a series of paid previews on Thursday evening while Wonder Woman chooses a straightforward Friday release.
“We are very confident about our product. Gal Gadot and Wonder Woman are international phenonema. They don't need that extra push,” says a source from production house.
But no extra push will help the torrent of Hindi releases this Friday. There are seven Hindi releases toplined by Prawaal Raman's Oculus remake Dobaara, debutant director Sunaina Bhatnagar's Dear Maya starring Manisha Koirala, Ruchi Narain's cheeky revisionist animation version of mythology in Hanuman Da' Damdaar, which features Salman Khan's voice as older Hanuman.
If you like horror, there is Sunil Sanjan's Flat 211 and Vijit Sharma's US-based psycho-thriller Mirror Game: Ab Khel Shuru. And vying for some affection in this melee of releases is a kids' film called Bachche Kachche Sachche directed by debutant Ravi Sadasiv. Then there's Konkona Sensharma's debut directorial A Death In The Gunj.
Reacting to the storm of films this week trade analyst Atul Mohan says, “Is this the last Friday of 2017? Why this mass suicide? But you can't blame the producers also. The phenomenal success of Baahubali 2 has reshuffled many release dates. For how long can they hold back their investments? Crowded week will only lead to less visibility and poor showcasing at the box-office. Only good content with good word-of-mouth may sail through, but for that one has to come to the cinema halls first. With exorbitant ticket prices and lack of face value even that looks bleak. We can only wish them good luck.”
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