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Bollywood Hit By Coronavirus: Releases Delayed & Shoots On Hold; Industry Stands To Lose Rs 800 Cr.
To contain the spread of coronavirus, cinema halls across many states in the country have been shut down and film bodies in India have decided to halt the shootings of films, TV shows and web series from March 19 to March 31. Speaking about numbers, due to the coronavirus pandemic, Bollywood is all set to incur a loss of around Rs. 800 crore owing to delays in shooting schedules and releases.
The box office collections of Tiger Shroff's Baaghi 3 and Irrfan Khan's Angrezi Medium has been severally impacted due to the theatre lockdown because of coronavirus scare. A Mumbai Mirror report quoted Baaghi 3 director Ahmed Khan as saying, "It's a leaden feeling when unforeseen events affect our movies. The numbers would have been a lot different if this hadn't happened.
However, he further added that nothing is above the safety of the audience. "It is overwhelming and means a great deal that Baaghi 3 could earn whatever it did. I am sure Sajid bhai (Nadiadwala, producer) would agree to this."
Meanwhile, the makers of Angrezi Medium plan to re-release the Irrfan Khan-Radhika Madan starrer in theatres once things are under control.
Trade analyst Komal Nahta pointed out the coronavirus-induced panic among cine-goers as the reason for the sharp fall in numbers of Baaghi 3 and Angrezi Medium.
He was quoted as saying by Mumbai Mirror, "It's a loss of Rs 25- 30 crore for the makers of Baaghi 3. Theatres shutting down have also impacted the weekend business of Angrezi Medium." He further added, "The Hindi film industry stands to lose Rs 800 crore owning to delays in releases and shooting schedules."
Filmmakers are taking all the necessary precautionary measures to tackle with the COVID-19 crisis. The final shooting schedule of Ranbir Kapoor-Alia Bhatt's Brahmastra was called off. The release of films like Akshay Kumar's Sooryavanshi, Arjun Kapoor-Parineeti Chopra's Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar and Rana Daggubati's Haathi Mere Saathi has been postponed.
An elaborately-planned trailer launch event for Ranveer Singh's '83 was called off and it's likely that the sports drama, which was supposed to release on April 10, will be pushed.
Meanwhile, Bihar-based exhibitor Vishek Chauhan is hoping for things to get back to normal by mid-April. He told the tabloid, "I hope that things will get back to normal by mid-April and we will return to a constant flow of releases to make up for the drop in revenue in the year's first quarter."
Trade analyst Taran Adarsh told the leading daily that the monetary losses in the Hindi film industry due to coronavirus outbreak could run into hundreds of crores since the entire chain of production, distribution and exhibition of films has come to an abrupt halt.
"I foresee a chaotic calendar once it is back to regular programming, unless filmmakers come together to chalk out a schedule. There are just 52 weeks in a year and with some of them already gone, we can expect multiple releases coming together, with one film cutting into another's business. Getting back to normalcy will take time," he was quoted as saying by Mumbai Mirror.
