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Houseful at the box office

Setting aside superstition, a bunch of film-makers are planning to release their films this Deepavali-Eid month. Sangeetha Devi. K reports

FESTIVE TREAT Bhoomika and Raja in a still from `Mayabazar.'

Superstitions are rarely ignored in the Telugu film industry. In the past few years, film-makers hesitated to release new movies during the Deepavali month. A number of films would release by Dasara and then, until Sankranti, hardly a few films make their way to cinema halls. This time though, 10 movies, Telugu productions and dubbed films, are expected this month. Has the industry taken a cue from Tamil and Hindi industries that come up with a slew of movies this time of the year?

Producer Suresh Babu reasons, "Summer holidays are the best time to release Telugu films, followed by Sankranti and Dasara. The period between late and December is avoided because farmers in the interiors of AP, who constitute a large section of our audience, are busy at work. There's less money to spare to watch films until Sankranti. But this year, there are several reasons why many films have been lined up. Deepavali and Eid occur within a few days, which means more holidays and more audience. Most films coming up don't have A-list stars. Small and medium budget films that have avoided competing with Boss and Stalin are to be released now."

Indraganti Mohana Krishna's Mayabazar, starring Raja and Bhoomika is scheduled towards the month end. "The date will be finalised soon," says actor Raja, adding, "Producers usually target the holiday period when people have time and money at disposal. Mayabazar will release by the end of October, during the holidays."

The other films expected this month are: Adi Lakshmi (Srikant, Vadde Naveen and Sridevi), Tata Birla Madhya Laila (Sivaji, Krishna Bagwan, Laya and Ali), Bhagyalakshmi Bumper Draw (a remake of Malamal Weekly that stars Rajendra Prasad, Rishi, Farhana and Kiran Rathod), Nuvve (Ravi Varma and Samragni) and Raa Raju (Gopichand and Ankita).

Adding to this long list are a few dubbed films as well. Kidnap, with Surya and Jyothika, is a remake of the Tamil film Maayavi and the Telugu version of Jackie Chan's The Myth too will release. D. Ramanaidu's Malayalam production Aswaroodam will release in Telugu as Mosagallaki Mosagadu. The movie stars Suresh Gopi and has been directed by National Award winning film-maker Jeyaraj.

SANGEETHA DEVI. K

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