RE-RELEASE SEASON CONTINUES; TUMBBAD EXPECTED TO GIVE NEW RELEASES TOUGH COMPETITION

Finally, after nearly a month, a mainstream Hindi film would be up for release – The Buckingham Murders. It stars Kareena Kapoor in the lead and it also marks her first film as a producer. It is directed by Hansal Mehta and is the story of a cop with a tragic past trying to solve a murder case. Kareena looks apt for the role and with Hansal as its director, it can be a film to watch out for. Interestingly, it is releasing in the original Hinglish version as well as the dubbed Hindi version.

Sadly, the buzz for The Buckingham Murders is very low. There’s hardly even any awareness about the film. Hence, the opening will be poor and hopefully, with good word of mouth, it’ll pick up considerably.

The film that would make the most noise this week is Tumbbad. It was released in 2018 and did a business of just Rs. 12.14 crores. Over the years, it achieved a cult following. Interestingly, the film has vanished from the internet and now, the only way to watch it is in cinemas when it re-releases tomorrow. In 2018, it had an opening of Rs. 51 lakhs. This time, it seems like it’ll have double the opening as the advances are encouraging and many shows are fast-filling. A theatre like Cinepolis, Viviana Mall, Thane is playing as many as 14 shows of the film, which is unheard of for a re-released film!

The other surprise re-release is Tujhe Meri Kasam. It was the debut of Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia Deshmukh. Many are not aware that it never got a release on OTT, TV or DVD and has a cult following in certain towns of Maharashtra. It has got limited shows and there’s curiosity among a tiny section of the audience for this film as they want to know why this film is watched 4, 5 and even 6 times by some people.

Veer-Zaara’s re-release caught attention and it now remains to be seen how it fares. Finally, the Hollywood film Speak No Evil has a limited release and will need positive reports to sustain.

On OTT, Sector 36 would drop on Netflix. It stars Vikrant Massey and Deepak Dobriyal and is produced by Dinesh Vijan's Maddock Films and Jio Studios. The awareness is limited but it got a great response at a film festival recently. Hence, it can be expected to get huge viewership.