The Hindu Business Line : IPL proves to be dampener for film industry hopes

Someone’s gain is someone else’s loss. The IPL’s success with Twenty-Twenty cricket format has turned out to be a dampener for the Telugu film industry, which had readied a line-up of films for the summer.

With most of the matches clashing with the timings of matinee and night shows, film patrons are either choosing to glue to the television screens or go to the stadia, if they happen to be in the cities that are hosting the matches.

“There is a definite impact of the matches on the ticket sales, particularly of the first and second shows.

“There is a drop of at least 10 per cent in sales,” the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Pyramid Saimira Theatre in Andhra Pradesh, Mr P. Rammohan Rao, told Business Line.

The company, which had bought 25 Telugu films so far, has suffered. Gamyam and Bhale Dongalu, the two hit films bought by the company, witnessed dip in audiences after the IPL matches began.

Despite the series of defeats suffered by the local team, Deccan Chargers, cricket lovers continue to go to the stadium, or stay at home to watch the matches.

The summer season saw releases of big budget movies of ‘Jalsa’ (Pawan Kalyan), Kantri (Jr NTR) and Parugu (Allu Arjun). Sources in the industry said all these films were impacted by the IPL matches.

Mr Tammareddy Bharadwaja, senior producer and Chairman of Producers’ Council of AP Film Chamber of Commerce, felt that the damage could be much more.

“The summer hopes for the industry were dashed. The losses are much more than what we assumed initially,” he said.

Mr B.V. Reddy, former President of Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber of Commerce, said ticket sales saw a downward trend in smaller cities like Kurnool also due to the matches.

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