For Shahnaab Alam, an independent film producer from Assam based in Mumbai, the pandemic came as a big blow to the release of his latest film “Bhoga Khirikee.” The movie has been directed by Jahnu Barua and produced by Shahnaab Alam along with Priyanka Chopra and Madhu Chopra. While Bhoga Khirikee has been screened at various film festivals and received acclaim, its release dates have always been jinxed.
“Initially scheduled to be released in October 2018, Bhoga Khirikee is yet to hit the big screen. When we finally decided a date for the release of the film in 2019, it got stalled because of protests against Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Now, it’s again the same due to the coronavirus outbreak,” expressed Alam, speaking to G Plus.
While the coronavirus outbreak and consequent nation-wide lockdown has led to major losses for various industries, the entertainment industry seems to be worst hit. This comes especially at a time when Assamese cinema had seemed to find its footing among theatre audiences with a few films of recent vintage doing rather well at the box-office.
Many films had their releases postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and it does not look like we will be seeing them in theatres anytime soon.
However, with the faith of cinema halls post lockdown being uncertain, there are talks of the film releasing on a streaming platform some time soon.
It should be mentioned that the Indian film industry is one of the largest in the world in terms of the number of films released. It produces approximately 2,000 films every year across a range of languages and, according to the most recent statistics, employs over 2,48,000 people.
Hence, those hit by the current crisis not only include actors, directors and producers but also the assistant directors, artists, designers, location assistants, script supervisors, camera assistants and lighting and motion-control technicians among a host of others.
Many big films had their releases postponed due to the novel coronavirus outbreak and it does not look like we will be seeing them in theatres anytime soon. Some of the films that are being kept on hold and are postponed indefinitely due to the lockdown include Akshay Kumar’s “Sooryavanshi” and Ranveer Singh’s “83.”
While there are movies like Salman Khan’s “Radhe” which are scheduled to release after May 3, it is difficult to tell whether the big offerings will see a strong footfall – is at all the movie halls are allowed to open that is.
Similar is the case with an upcoming Assamese film “Local Utpaat,” a 90 minute comedy film by ace actor-director Kenny Basumatary which is scheduled for release on September 4, 2020.
“I was fortunate to have completed shooting for the film ahead of lockdown. So if lockdown gets over by June, we will be able to release the film as scheduled. However, the future of cinema halls is uncertain as of now. Even if cinema halls are allowed to screen movies anytime soon, we are not sure about the footfall which will directly affect the business and outcome of the film,” Kenny Basumatary told G Plus.
While many filmmakers are releasing their productions online, Basumatary believes that “the joy of watching movie in a hall with your friends and family members cannot be experienced at home.”
A couple more projects were in the pipeline for Kenny Basumatary. However, owing to the lockdown, he hasn’t been able to start working on them.
It should be mentioned that ahead of the lockdown, Basumatary had launched a crowd-funding campaign to meet the post production expenses and release of Local Utpaat and had successfully raised Rs 10 lakhs.
Due to the coronavirus outbreak and the rise of streaming platforms as the new normal, the future of the Assamese entertainment industry, much like the mainstream Hindi entertainment industry or Bollywood, remains uncertain. Only time will tell what will happen to these pending projects.
