No Diwali dhamaka from Bollywood

NEW DELHI: Diwali may not bring much cheer to Bollywood this year. Blame it on lack of aggression by filmmakers recovering from a series of flops and low consumer confidence stemming from economic uncertainties. Just a week away from India���s biggest festival, and the buzz around big-ticket Diwali releases is conspicuously missing, a stark contrast to last year when there was a battle-royale fought at the box office between two big-budget movies of 2007���Om Shanti Om and Saawariya.

Fashion and Golmaal Returns, this year���s Diwali���s releases, with a budget Rs 20 crore and Rs 30 crore, respectively, are comparatively smaller films than last year���s OSO and Saawariya, which had double the price tag at over Rs 35-40 crore, with big promotional budgets to boot.

What���s worse, industry observers are guarded in their predictions for the two Diwali releases this year. Says trade analyst Taran Adarsh: ���Last year���s Diwali releases had big names attached with them. This year is an exception when the movies are not big.��� Trade circles also admit that the smaller size of the films this year might impact their box office fortunes adversely.

In fact, after a series of flops this year, Bollywood is desperately seeking a hit this festive season. The latest, Karzzz, a remake of 1980s hit Karz, too seems to have failed to impress audiences, with thin attendance at theatres across Delhi and Mumbai. Ditto for the multi-starrer film Hello.

Says National Association of Motion Picture Exhibitors president and Delite Cinema MD Shashank Raizada: ���In its opening weekend, Karzzz has got an occupancy of 55% across all theatres in Delhi. This is a below-par performance for the first three days that are expected to really draw in the crowds.���

The box office has recently witnessed a slew of flops, including big-budget movies like Saas Bahu Aur Sensex, Drona and Kidnap. Says PVR Cinemas COO (exhibition division) Amitabh Vardhan: ���Both Karzzz and Hello have an occupancy of 25-30% in PVR Cinemas. And in both the cases, it is the content that is to be blamed. People are just not liking the fare on offer.���

Opines Fun Cinemas COO Vishal Kapur: ���Occupancy for Hello and Karzzz have been 50% at our 62 cinemas, which is very mediocre. These days nothing can be predicted about any movie. It is only a matter of chance that two low-budget movies are releasing this Diwali.���

Mr Adarsh says that actor Himesh Reshammiya���s second outing, after Aap ka Suroor last year, has not gone down well with audiences in Mumbai too. What���s worse, industry observers are skeptical about the forthcoming movies. ���Karzzz has got an overall occupancy of about 40% in all cinemas in the city. The market is unpredictable and nothing can be predicted about the fortunes of any film,��� adds Mr Adarsh.

Mudra Max president Chandradeep Mitra feels that Fashion and Golmaal Returns might succeed if their content appeals to the audience.

���This year���s Diwali releases are smaller than last year. But conventional logic of having big stars and marketing budgets is taking a beating this year. It is better content that is winning. If you hype a weak product too much, it falls flat miserably. So a big budget might not guarantee a hit.���

Movies releasing in the month of November include the likes of Horn Ok Pleassss, Karan Johar���s Dostana and Subhash Ghai���s Yuvvraaj.