Mad movie rush before IPL

Mumbai: It is a hot summer but Milan Talkies and Mere Pyare Prime Minister, the two notable Hindi films released this week, are not alone at the turnstiles with a total of 50 releases in the country.

We had told you about the second week of February witnessing 48 releases. But this week, the figure has touched 50.

There are two English, two Marathi, four Bengali, seven Tamil, six Kannada, 10 Telugu, four Malayalam and eight Hindi films that released this Friday. Apart from these, there are films releasing in Punjabi, Assamese, Chattisgarhi, Bhojpuri among other languages. A few of these films are dubbed too.

“It is the storm before the IPL begins. Everyone wants their films to be released and done with rather than be crushed by the IPL opening when people are not expected to really throng the theatres. So, it has resulted in a mad rush at the box office,” says a trade source. The IPL kickstarts this year on March 23.

But, how will these makers find theatres? “They will have to work with limited screens. The way films are releasing now, it does seem that this year we will see the maximum number of releases ever in the Indian film industry,” adds the source.

Incidentally, in 2018, Bollywood saw over 240 releases.

—Sanskriti Media