This morning has been filled with a number of announcements and it’s so exciting indeed! The latest film to join the March release club is the much-awaited Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Jhund directed by Sairat director Nagraj Manjule. It’s such a treat for the Bachchan fans to see him on the poster and the 70mm after so long! He plays a role based on the life of Slum Soccer founder Vijay Barse in Jhund.
Check out the announcement here.
Another biggie to hit the marquee is Prabhas and Pooja Hegde-starrer Radhe Shyam. It shall release on March 11. The film has been delayed multiple times, but they were adamant to wait and have a theatrical release only – and that’s commendable. A film made on such a big canvas deserves to be watched on the big-screen and I’m sure all the Prabhas fans are thrilled with this announcement. With this line-up, March is filled with a big release every week – Jhund on March 4, Radhe Shyam on March 11, Akshay Kumar-starrer Bachchan Pandey on March 18 and RRR on March 25. This S.S Rajamouli film would have clashed with Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, but this morning, the makers of the latter announced that this Kartik Aaryan–Kiara Advani film is now pushed to May 20.
Let’s see what the trade has to say on this.
Trade Analyst Taran Adarsh shares,
“The flow of films begin, non-stop from February 11 onwards with Badhaai Do releasing. The biggies begin from February 25 onwards though, with Gangubai Kathiawadi followed by Jhund on March 4, Radhe Shyam on March 11, Bachchan Pandey on March 18 and RRR on March 25. Now Bhool Bhulaiyaa has shifted to a new date which is May 20th or else it would have clashed with RRR. I’m not talking of April releases but just the month of March which is very crowded. April will again see a clash of Laal Singh Chaddha and KGF2. But, the month of March will be a big decider. I’m very confident that the audience will be back in big numbers in this month. Of course, I would also like to add that eventually the content will speak for itself. It has been proved in the past that star names are important but the content is the driving force at the box-office and I’m sure that these films will do well. These are such big names like Sanjay Leela Bhansali for Gangubai Katiawadi, or Jhund which has Big B with the Sairat director, or Radhe Shyam or Rajamouli – so it’s going to be a big clash at the box-office but again an exciting clash to look forward to. There are lot many films to choose from. Fingers crossed, the audience will be receptive of these.”
Since the theatres have suffered many losses in the last two years, they would take up as many films as possible and the announcements of these releases, promises happy times for them.
Manoj Desai, Executive Director, Gaiety Galaxy & Maratha Mandir, says,
“We will take up as many movies as we can, because we’ve suffered a lot of losses in the past 2 years. The last film which earned at the box-office was the Hindi version of Pushpa : The Rise. But again, post that, we’ve lost our way and been affected. So now with the upcoming releases, we’ll definitely try to recover as much as we can.”
So, March should indeed be a game-changer and a huge booster for the business to be back on-track, as the trade experts feel. However, I’m sure that the true blue movie buffs who enjoy the big-screen experience are excited about these announcements.