Law on Marathi movies could hit multiplex collections

Maharashtra government’s move to make it mandatory for screening Marathi film during prime time has put Bollywood in a spot of bother. Many are worried that this could hit collections of Hindi films as 6 to 9 pm slot is the most lucrative.

Film actor Raveena Tandon said, “Marathi film industry should be encouraged so that it could prosper. At the same time, we are concerned about Bollywood films which will miss out on the prime time slot, especially the screen allotted to Marathi films. It may affect the box office fate of Hindi films which initially were getting more number of screens in the prime slot.”

While most multiplex owners refrained from making a comment, some operators said that, “films have to be good to generate revenue and we believe this kind of an initiative may be retrogade for the multiplex industry”.

The Maharashtra government on Tuesday ordered multiplexes in the state to air one Marathi film in their prime time slots. "We are in the process of enacting a law to make it mandatory for multiplexes to screen Marathi films during prime time. Multiplexes give step-sisterly treatment to Marathi films. They are denied prime slots and hence this kind of a norm needs to be brought in,” Vinod Tawde, Culture Minister said.

Industry representatives said even within Maharashtra, only few cities like Pune and Nagpur find it monetarily appealing to air Marathi film in theatres.

The Indian film industry is set to grow by around 11.5 per cent over a five year period, hitting $3.1bn by 2017, according to a FICCI-KPMG report. The average cost of producing a small Hindi commercial movie is more than Rs 20 crore compared to a Marathi or Punjabi title/film/production, which costs between Rs one – four crore.

But not all are worried. Film-maker Mahesh Manjrekar lauded the initiative saying that the move would give a massive boost to regional films. “Multiplexes have about seven screens and allotting one screen to Marathi film may not affect any players by and large. Infact, we see regional filmmakers getting a major boost from the same,” he said.

Bollywood actor Sonali Bendre said, “There have been several debates over Marathi films not getting proper screens forget about the movies getting proper time slot in the past. Marathi film industry has evolved over the years and it can do much better provided Marathi films get good number of screens and proper show time.”