IPL hits back Bollywood again

Aaah, now these are indeed terrible times for Bollywood. One can't pin point on one thing in particular because at the end of it all, this is a vicious circle indeed. Due to IPL, big films are staying away from release. Due to vacant slots available, medium budget and smaller films are left with no choice but to come in now. Due to coming together of so many films, (most of the) buyers are thinking thrice about investing any more money into the promotion. Due to lack of promotion, audience are not even aware about the release dates, let aside getting enticed enough to step into theaters. And due to empty theaters, the industry is pretty much heard wailing - 'Oh no, the IPL is at it again. Humein cricket ne doobaa diya'.

My question is - "Why not have a biggie like a Houseful or a Kites or a Shah Rukh/Aamir/Salman starrer dare to release during this period? If that does happen, will the situation not see a major upswing? Won't a viewer come out of home and step into the dark auditorium to land into the world of fantasy? Won't the situation completely reverse and IPL (or any other sporting event) get defeated off the ground? Why make excuses when you haven't tried at all? Why, why, why?"

This is why when films like Well Done Abba, Hum Tum Aur Ghost, Mittal V/s Mittal, Prem Kaa Game and My Friend Ganesha 3 release (how well are they released is a different question altogether) and are met with empty theaters all over, it is no more a case of sympathy that sets in. Instead one feels like going back to the makers and ask them all the 'why-s' as detailed above.

Seriously, can one blame the makers of the films, especially in cases like Hum Tum Aur Ghost and Well Done Abba, when buyers like Studio 18 and Big Pictures apparently didn't even go all out in their marketing and promotional campaign. Ok, so these were not masterpieces in the offering but then they deserved much more than approximately 20%-30% opening that they fetched. As for the remaining three films, well the shoddy production values and treatment made them just the right candidates for an early exit from theaters.

Well, the only introspection point is, the next time a sporting or any other event is blamed, let's look at what industry is itself doing to the products coming out every Friday!