ALA VAIKUNTHAPURRAMULOO’S RELEASE CANCELLED; BADHAAI DO’S RELEASE ANNOUNCED
In our last week’s Bollywood Talk, we had informed that Allu Arjun’s 2020 film, Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, will be released in Hindi in cinemas on January 26. However, the release was cancelled after Manish Shah of Goldmines Telefilms, who holds the rights of the film, had to change his mind. Reportedly, the producers of Shehzada, the Hindi remake of Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, felt that their film would be affected if Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo would release in cinemas and do well at the box office. Hence, Allu Aravind, the producer of both Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo and Shehzada, flew down from Hyderabad to meet Manish Shah.
Manish Shah later told a website that Kartik Aaryan, the lead actor in Shehzada, threatened to walk out of the remake if Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo’s Hindi version would release in cinemas. Shehzada’s makers then put out a statement in the media that Kartik has been a thorough professional and that he has made no such threat. Nevertheless, Allu Arjun’s Hindi fans were disappointed. His recent film, Pushpa: The Rise – Part 01, was fresh in everyone’s minds and hence, they wanted to see more of him. Thankfully, for them, they’ll still get a chance to see Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo in Hindi. The film will now premiere on television on February 6.
However, the exhibitors were shattered when Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo’s release was cancelled in Hindi. There has been no Hindi film release since December 24 and they were looking forward to the 2020 flick as it would have got them considerable footfalls. But now with its release being stalled, they don’t know how long they can continue to run cinemas. Most of them, especially the ones in the North, are playing Pushpa: The Rise – Part 01. But with each passing week, its footfalls are naturally declining.
Thankfully, there’s been a ray of hope. Badhaai Do, starring Rajkummar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar, has been announced for a February 11 release. It was supposed to be released on February 4. But unlike other films, it has not been indefinitely pushed and got postponed only by a week. It has given an assurance that more films would be announced for a theatrical release in February. This will mainly happen after the Delhi government announces that it is relaxing curbs from next month. The capital city was the first one to shut theatres, in December-end. If it opens, then the release dates of several films will be announced one after the other. Hence, after a disastrous January, one can expect Bollywood films to finally take off and generate some sort of business in February.
Meanwhile, the theatres in Maharashtra have a reason to smile. The Marathi film, Nay Varan Bhat Loncha Kon Nay Koncha, was released on January 14 and was a decent success. Meanwhile, the first Marathi zombie film, Zombivli, was released on January 26 and its opening has been fantastic. The film was released at a great time and got a wide screen count, which would have not been possible had it been released in normal times alongside Hindi movies. The theatres in Maharashtra are now sorted for a few weeks as Zombivli will continue to draw audiences thanks to the hype and great word of mouth.
Fenil’s Bollywood Talk # 710
