Mumbai attack: B’wood fearing loss of revenue

Friday, November 28, 2008 at 8:11 am

Bollywood, looking for relief after a string of big-budget flops, with some much-awaited films, is now fearing loss of revenue and audience after the latest Mumbai terror attacks. Two of the magnum opus – Shahrukh Khan’s ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ and Aamir Khan’s ‘Ghajini’- are scheduled for release next month.

“Definitely, the attack will affect and it will last for a month. The loss of 20-25 per cent is expected this time, as the impact of blasts is huge. Last time after the Delhi serial blasts, we saw that audiences preferred to stay home despite big releases,” says Vishal Kapoor, CEO, Fun Cinemas.

Adlabs spokesperson Anjali Malhotra says, “There will be no major releases for us this week. Today, as it is we are not expecting any audience but we will have to wait and watch for tomorrow (November 28, 2008). We really can’t say anything untill the night show on November 28.”

Film trade analyst Taran Adarsh says, “The attack is surely going to affect the film industry in a very big way, not only in Mumbai but all over the country. The cinema halls will find it difficult to show ‘full-house’ board this time. People have reacted sharply after other serial blasts in the past and very low occupancy was recorded’.

Declining to give exact figure of the loss, Adarsh affirms, “Well it’s not possible to foresee now but it should be in many crores. You will also get to see some of the producers postponing their releases.” When asked about some promotional measures to attract the audiences in this trying time, Kapoor says, “It will not work because the reasons are sentimental.”

Film distributor Vinod Chabra points out, that that the attack will result in the loss of FDI (Foreign Direct investment) also. “Foreign houses will give a second thought on investment. If I talk about Mumbai, a one day loss would be around 5 crores. Families would now be apprehensive ofvisiting cinema halls. So the next two weeks are going to be tough for Bollywood,” Chabra asserts.

On the contrary, Chabra is again quite optimistic that the slowdown will not last long and after next week, the Hindi cinema will come on track. According to Chabra, “‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ and ‘Ghajini’ will hardly see any downfall in the number of audiences because of the hype.”

Some of the other releases, scheduled in the coming weeks apart from ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ and ‘Ghajini’, are ‘Maharathi’, ‘Dil Kabaddi’, ‘Sorry Bhai’, ‘Jumbo’ and ‘Oye Lucky Lucky Oye.’

( This post is from an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by APakistanNews.Com.)

Mumbai attack: B’wood fearing loss of revenue

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