With elections and cricket taking away half the year, looks like the second half, particularly August, will belong to Kannada filmmakers. This, considering that more than a couple of star films are queuing up for release in the eighth month of the year.
While makers have had to contend with assembly elections and the cricket world cup, which will go on till mid-July, the only option for filmmakers has been August. We’re also told that August is supposedly an auspicious month for new beginnings with it being the month of Shravana Maasa.
Among the long list of big films, two of them — Muniratna Kurukshetra and Pailwaan-- will lock horns at the box office on August 9, which is on Varamahalakshmi. While Pailwaan’s producer Krishna, had officially announced the release date sometime ago, there were speculations that Muniratna Kurukshetra too would be releasing on the same day. This was confirmed on Sunday when producer Muniratna made the official announcement.
Meanwhile, P Vasu’s film, which stars Shivarajkumar and tentatively titled Anand is also supposed to release on the same day, which was announced at the muhurath. Joining the bandwagon is Pushkar Mallikarjuniah’s Avane Srimannarayaana, starring Rakshit Shetty, which, although will release in August, is not on August 9 thankfully. However, the final date is yet to be confirmed.
According to Gandhinagar grapevine, makers of Sriimurali-starrer Bharaate, directed by Chethan Kumar, they are also looking at an August release. What’s also interesting is that three films - Muniratna Kurukshetra, Pailwaan and Avane Srimannarayana--are working on a pan- India release. Here, producers give us an insight into the reason as to why August is the preferred month.
Both are Kannada films, so I don’t think it’s a clash: Muniratna Naidu
Muniratna Kurukshetra, the epic historical drama, directed by Naganna and produced by Muniratna Naidu, started shooting in August 2017. Based on the Mahabharata, this will be Darshan’s 50th film in which he plays Duryodhana. The film, featuring an ensemble cast, including Ambareesh, V Ravichandran, Arjun Sarja, Nikhil Kumar, Sneha, Meghana Raj, Sonu Sood, Srinivasa Murthy, Danish Akhtar Saifi, Ravishankar and Hariprriya, is a 2D and 3D film.
Muniratna Kurukshetra, which has got a U/A certification from the censor board, has been creating a buzz about its release date. However, the final date of release for the film, being made in five languages, is August 9. It is also likely to release in Chinese, for which discussions are currently on with a distributor from Kerala, who is keen to buy the rights of the film. About the clash, Muniratna says, “Both are Kannada films, so as such there is no clash. Even if five Kannada films are releasing on the same day, each of them will have its own set of theatres. In addition, since the film is simultaneously releasing in more than five languages, theatres in Karnataka will mostly have our films,” he says.
Double entertainment for audience: S Krishna, producer and director
S Krishna’s directorial Pailwaan, featuring Sudeep in the role of a wrestler and boxer, will be the director’s first productional venture under RRR Motion Pictures. More than a couple of B-Town actors, including Akankasha Singh, Suniel Shetty, and Sushanth Singh, will be making their Kannada debut.
The sports flick, which has created a huge hype — especially with Sudeep having undergone a transformation-- will simultaneously be dubbed and released in around eight languages, including Marathi and Bhojpuri. Krishna, in consultation with distributors from other regions, decided on August 9 as the release date.
Now, with Pailwaan clashing with Kurukshetra, Krishna says, “Pailwaan’s release date was a decision taken by us one-and-a-half months ago. In general, any star-studded film clashing at the box office will mean double entertainment for audience. But producers will lose money. Having said that, Muniratna is a senior producer and knows better. I am just working on my film right now,” he says.