With another season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting on March 26, cricket fans are ready to celebrate the two-month-long festival. But not everyone is celebrating the start of the cash-rich tournament. South Indian cinema was gravely affected by the pandemic, with filmmakers drowning in massive losses due to the closure of cinema halls. But now they have another roadblock to success in the form of IPL.
However, the makers are gearing up to face the hugely popular competition chin up. There are two religions in India, cricket and movies. But if these two collide, there is absolute chaos. There will be a match every day and weekends will have double-headers. Two new teams will also be introduced this season, and that has increased the duration of IPL. Hence, it is a risky proposition to release a movie made after spending crores.
Many prefer to enjoy an IPL match from the comforts of their homes over going out for a movie in this sweltering heat. IPL usually receives good attention but if there are two or three close matches, the interest levels shoot up further. In the past too, many movies have suffered because of the IPL. Hence, it is brave of the producers to release their movies despite the craze for IPL.
The magnum opus RRR, directed by S. S. Rajamouli, made on a budget of 500 crores, was released on March 25. It has collected a handsome amount at the box office already. Acharya, which has superstar Chiranjeevi and Ram Charan in the lead roles, is one of the most-anticipated movies. It will hit theatres on April 29.
K.G.F: Chapter 2, which has Yash, Srinidhi Shetty and Sanjay Dutt in the lead roles, is another big-budget movie scheduled to release on April 14. Beast starring Vijay and Pooja Hegde releases on April 13 setting up a clash with K.G.F: Chapter 2.
It will be interesting to see how these movies fare given the IPL, as well as the clash among themselves.
