It’s a bleak first quarter with releases delayed & shoots on hold; analysts anticipate more chaos for remaining Fridays of 2020
Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 16, 2020)

By 12 pm on Sunday, more than half of cinemas (3500 plus screens) had shut down across India, including major markets for Hindi films like Mumbai, Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bihar and Punjab. As a result, the collections of the March 6 release, Baaghi 3, and Irrfan Khan’s comeback film Angrezi Medium, which opened last Friday, took a serious hit.

“It’s a leaden feeling when unforeseen events affect our movies. The numbers would have been a lot different if this hadn’t happened,” admits Ahmed Khan. The director of the Tiger Shroff-starrer, however, is quick to assert that nothing is above the safety and well-being of the audience. “It is overwhelming and means a great deal that Baaghi 3 could earn whatever it did. I am sure Sajid (Nadiadwala, producer) bhai would agree.”

Trade analyst Komal Nahta corroborates that the sharp fall in the numbers is because of the Coronavirus-induced panic among movie-goers. “It’s a loss of Rs 25-30 crore for the makers of Baaghi 3. Theatres shutting down have also impacted the weekend business of Angrezi Medium,” he informs, adding, “The Hindi film industry stands to lose Rs 800 crore owning to delays in releases and shooting schedules.”

Last week, the final schedule of Brahmastra, which is targeting a December 4 release, was called off. Around the same time, the makers of Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif-starrer Sooryavanshi deferred its release, which was scheduled for March 24. The fate of another highly-anticipated project, Kabir Khan’s Ranveer Singh-starrer ’83, is in limbo. An elaborately-planned trailer launch was called off last week and according to an industry source, it is likely that the sports-drama, which was to open on April 10, will be pushed.

It is a cause of concern for other links in the chain of making and distributing films. Bihar-based exhibitor Vishek Chauhan points out that while theatres may be downing shutters following government orders, he still has to pay rent, electricity and staff’s salaries. “This, despite no ticket and canteen sales,” he sighs, writing off the setback as short-term loss. “I hope that things will get back to normal by mid-April and we will return to a constant flow of releases to make up for the drop in revenue in the year’s first quarter.”

Trade expert Taran Adarsh concurs that monetary losses could run into hundreds of crores since the entire chain of production, distribution and exhibition of films has come to an abrupt halt. “I foresee a chaotic calendar once it is back to regular programming, unless filmmakers come together to chalk out a schedule. There are just 52 weeks in a year and with some of them already gone, we can expect multiple releases coming together, with one film cutting into another’s business. Getting back to normalcy will take time.”

India has registered 108 confirmed cases of Covid-19, of which 32 are in Maharashtra alone. The state government has ordered shutdown of theatres and malls till March 31.