KOCHI: Early morning shows. ‘Pandimelam’ and ‘pancharimelam’. Pre-booking rush for tickets.
It seems all the fanfares related with movie releases are making a comeback to Mollywood.
After a two-month slumber, during which various movies tanked at the box-office, Kerala’s tinseltown is slowly waking up with the arrival of Onam releases from Thursday.
Superstar Mohanlal’s movie, Velipadinte Pusthakam’ ill be the first major Onam release to hit the big screens.
“Fan shows for the movie will begin at 8 am across the state. It is indeed after a long while we are planning grand events for the release of a Malayalam movie. Earlier, similar shows were organised for Mohanlal-starrer Pulimurugan. Though we are not expecting the same, typical, mass masala from Velipadinte Pusthakam, the fan show is being organised because it is after a long gap a big release is hitting theatres,” said Ajeer Rahiman, a Mohanlal fan from Kodungalloor.
He said fan shows at the Kodungalloor Ashoka theatre and Carvinal cinemas are already sold out. “We hope the Onam releases will perform better at the box office,” Ajeer said.
Not just fans, but producers too are pinning their hopes on the better performance by Onam releases for revitalising the industry.
“We do not know the exact reason for the dip in box office collections in the last two months. Only three films survived in the June-August season: Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum, Sunday Holiday and Chunks,” said Kerala Film Producers Association president G Sureshkumar.
On whether the recent controversies surrounding the actor abduction case led to the poor box office performance of the movies, Sureshkumar said, "It may have been one of the reasons. It is definitely not the only reason. No highly-hyped movies were released in the last two months. Heavy rain and off-season also contributed to the slump,” he said.
A day after Mohanlal’s movie is released, Pullikkaran Staraa, starring the other Mollywood superstar Mammootty, will hit the silver screens on Friday. Other Onam releases this year are Prithviraj-starrer Adam Joan and Nivin Pauly’s Njandukalude Nattil Oridavela.