Has Election Fever Divided Tollywood Over Film Releases?

The election fever seems to have divided Tollywood over movie release dates. The next 60 days will see intense polling activities across West Bengal but some of the Tollywood producers-directors are not worried about it; they feel it will not affect the footfalls. The much-awaited Bengali film Mirza by Ankush Hazra of one of the top mainstream actors will stick to its pre-declared Eid release date of April 10. Ankush pointed out that the film gets 10 days before the first phase of the election which starts on April 19. He further added that the response to the film will be known in the first week itself hence polling will not affect the release. Echoing similar views, director duo Shiboprasad Mukherjee-Nandita Roy’s new venture Amar Boss which will see the comeback of veteran actress Raakhee Gulzar in Bengali after almost 20 years. Shibu is targeting the month of May for the release. The confident director mentioned that his previous releases such as Ramdhanu was released during 2014 polls and Kantha in 2019 elections and both were superhits hence he sees no reason to fear. National-award winning director Srijit Mukherji’s much awaited movie Padatik, a tribute to masterclass director Mrinal Sen on his birth centenary is slated to release on May 14. Producer Firdousul Hasan is unwilling to back down with the release date since maximum moviegoers are not workers from political parties. But some are not taking chances. Like Superstar Jeet, his movie Boomerang’s release has been pushed from May to June 7 release. Similarly, actor director Arna Mukhopadhyay’s movie Athoi has shifted the release from April to June.