Covid-19 impact on Bollywood is increasing day by day as you all know that lock down in India is extended till 17th May by MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) due to situation was not getting improved. This time all cities are divided in Red, Orange and Green zone. Earlier lock down was supposed to end on 3rd May and now it has 2 weeks’ extension and if situation will not improve it may be possible that lock down may extend further. Due to Corona many industries are impacted including Bollywood film industry as theaters will remain closed till 17th May as of now.
Baaghi 3 and Angrezi Medium were first 2 movies which were impacted and were supposed to release after lockdown end, but Angrezi medium will not release in theaters as it is already released digitally on Hotstar. No update on Baaghi 3 yet but current scenario indicates that movie will not release now as so many movies are already lined up.
Due to Covid-19 situation demand of OTT platform increased rapidly as many web series are releasing and audiences are showing interest in it. Hollywood releases their movies on OTT platform as they have good audiences for them and they have recently release Chris Hemsworth starrer Extraction on Netflix. Now Bollywood makers are also in discussion with Amazon, Netfilx, Hotstar to release their movies digitally instead of theatres and in my personal opinion it is very good move. Audiences may able to see few films directly on OTT platforms for by sitting at home in free time with their family.
It is also possible that due to Covid-19 theaters may not open for longer period even if lock down lifted. Last big Bollywood movie which was postponed was “83 starring Ranveer Singh” and now no movies will release till 17th May. Also chances are very slim that we can have any releases till May end.
If this is case it will be big loss for Bollywood as many big budget movies are ready for releases and many are in pipeline. Now it is certain that once theatres will open we will see flurry of movies release in 2nd half of 2020. It means many big movies will each other in festive time like Independence day, Gandhi Jayanti, Diwali Christmas. Only chance to evitable the clash is to release the big budget movie in normal weekends.
If we compare the collection of Bollywood movies from last year industry are already loss hefty amount in first half of the year and now film makers have no options to change the dates of their movies and bound to clash with other movies. Some movies may postpone to next year but movies which is already completed have no other choices.
Sooryavanshi, 83, Coolie no.1, Radhe, Laaxmi Bomb these are big budgets movies who are set to release in 2nd half and makers will release the new dates for these films. In my knowledge it will be first time when there may not have any Bollywood movie on Eid festive. I am sharing the list of movies which are impacted till now because of Covid-19.
1. Sooryavanshi
2. Sandeep Aur Pinki Faraar
3. Haathi Mere saathi
4. 83
5. Gulabo Sitabo
6. Ludo
7. Gunjan Saxena
8. Coolie No.1
9. Dil Bechara
10. A Girl On the Train
11. Shakuntala Devi
12. Laaxmi Bomb
13. Radhe
For more update please visit Cricket Movie Website