KOCHI: "We noticed that the people of Malabar are really scared and the turnout is poor in cinemas, shopping malls, hotels and other public spaces. We are planning a big release for the movie and we want to see each and every movie buff venturing out to the cinemas to enjoy the movie. The Nipah scare has really lowered the festive spirit of Malabar. Hence, we have decided to postpone the movie to July.”
The makers of Prithviraj and Parvathy-starrer 'My Story' said they are assessing the situation. “As of now, we are planning to release the movie on June 15, as scheduled earlier. However, we can't take a risk in the Malabar region which provides good returns for movies. My story is a Rs18-crore movie. So we will take a final decision on the release only after analysing the situation next week,” said Roshni Dinaker. Meanwhile, director Ranjith Sankar, whose movie 'Njan Marykkutty' - another Ramadan release - said they are planning to release the movie as charted earlier.
“It's not feasible to change the date of release after all the publicity and promotions. Still, 10 more days are there for the release and we hope the situation will change in the coming days,” said Ranjith, who is also the producer of the Jayasurya-starrer. Another movie slated for a festival release is the Mammootty-starrer 'Abrahaminte Santhathikal', expected to hit the screens on June 15.
At the same time, Kerala Distributor's Association president Ziyad Koker sounded optimistic. He said the low crowd turnout in Malabar is usual during the month of Ramadan. “There is no need to panic. We are expecting a good box office performance from the Ramadan releases which are already charted. If they fare well, the apprehensions will also fade away,” said Koker.