Exam fever hits T-town

Exam fever hits T-town

A whole bunch of big-ticket releases are slated for the fag end of March, when most exams end

Karthik Pasupulate

Exam time and low turnout at movie theaters go hand in hand. And it comes as no surprise that for the most part of March, the film scene looks really bleak. Avid movie watchers have got nothing much to select from except for an odd Telugu film, a couple of small-budget movies and dubbed movies.
Barring actor Manchu Manoj's latest release that is all set to hit the screens on March 2, a day before the intermediate board exams, most of Tollywood's big ticket films are sticking to the golden rule — avoid releasing a movie during exam season. Rana-Genelia starrer "Na Ishtam", Ram Charan's "Racha", NTR's "Dammu", Pawan Kalyan's "Gabbar Singh", Ram's "Endukante Premanta", director Teja's "Neeku Naku Dash Dash" — are all lined up for release in April or fag end of March.
Affirming the fact that vacation time is the best time for a film release, Paruchuri Kireeti, producer of "Na Ishtam", says, "The timing of a film's release is extremely important for it's success. We decided on March 23 as the date of release only after making sure that there are no exams lined up during that period. College-going youngsters are the target audience and during exam time, they avoid watching movies and it impacts revenues."
But what is a risk for some, is an opportunity for the others. "There is no empirical evidence that suggests that people watch fewer movies during exam time. But from past experiences, it is clear that there is a significant drop in the family crowd that visits theaters. That is why we have a lot of small-budget and dubbed films releasing during this time," explains producer Shobhu Yarlagadda.
Suresh Kondeti, who is producing the Telugu version of Tamil film "Renigunta" which is scheduled to release on March 8, has other thoughts. "While it is true that the revenues dip by about 10-20 per cent during exam time, if a film is good, it will go on to be a hit, irrespective of the time of the release. "Ye Maya Chesave" released during March last year, but it still went on to be a hit. It is still a risk as exams will be halfway through by then, but I am confident that the film would get good response and the collections will improve from March 16 onwards when the exams are over," says Suresh.
Meanwhile, with no big films monopolizing the theaters, dubbed films are having a field day. Karthi's "Malligadu", the Telugu version of the award-winning Tamil film "Paruthiveeran"; "Ek Veera", the dubbed version of Tamil film "Aravan; and "Pathalaprapancham", the Telugu version of English film "Underworld", are some of the dubbed films available to those who cannot do with their daily dose of cinema at the theaters.
karthik.pasupulate@timesgroup.com

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