HYDERABAD: The queues have shifted away from box-office counters at cinema halls to banks and ATMs after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to demonetise high value currency notes.
With theatres wearing a deserted look, Tollywood filmmakers have postponed the release of their films until the situation settles down. As many as six releases, including Ram Charan-starrer ‘Dhruva,’ have been deferred due to the prevailing cash crisis.
Among the various other small budget films that have been postponed, most notable is Allari Naresh-starrer ‘Intlo Deyyam Nakem Bhayam,’ which was scheduled to hit the screens on November 12. With Modi’s announcement coming two days prior to the film’s release, the makers have hastily postponed the release at the last minute and are likely to wait for another month for things to settle down.
“Unfortunately, we had to postpone the release of our film due to the current, unavoidable situation. We will announce a new release date soon,” producer BVSN Prasad said.
Some of the other films that have been postponed are Vijay Antony’s ‘Bethaludu’ (Shaitaan in Tamil), comedian Saptagiri’s much-hyped venture ‘Saptagiri Express,’ Vishal-Tamannaah’s ‘Okkadochaadu’ and Mohanlal-starrer ‘Manyampuli.’
While ‘Manyampuli’ and ‘Bethaludu’ have announced a new release date of December 2, it remains to be seen if they will go ahead with the release.
“As of now, it’s just a ‘wait and watch’ game that the producers are playing. If the situation doesn’t improve until then, the film may be postponed again,” revealed a source from the film’s unit.
However, even as the turnout at cinema halls across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana falling drastically and filmmakers postponing new releases, Nikhil Siddharth-starrer ‘Ekkakidi Pothaavu Chinnavaada’ will hit screens this Friday, as per schedule.
A clearly nervous Nikhil Siddharth said that the producers have gone ahead with the release with the confidence that a solo release will help compensate for the numbers they might miss out on due to cash crunch. Speaking about how the demonitisation has affected the industry, Nikhil said, “I don’t think the production will stop but the distributors mostly deal with cash, so that will create a problem. The rates might come down as a result of this.”
Local producers, while admitting that they are bearing the brunt of the cash crisis, state that they are willing to bear the inconvenience for the clean-up of the system.