The time of Diwali becomes very pivotal for the Indian film industries. Many filmmakers look to use the time to release their ambitious projects as this time has a better rate for a film’s success. This year, in 2024 too, the industries will see multiple ambitious releases.
Bollywood will see the release of Singham Again and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3. The Southern industries have films like Amaran, Lucky Bhaskar and Bagheera lined up. All these films have the potential of reaching huge success in the box office.
The regional industries though (most of them), seem to be silent in using the Diwali opportunity. Apart from a few, no regional industry is coming up with any big release on Diwali. For regional films like Bengali, Odia, Assamese, Gujrati etc. they usually do not go on to become national hits. But at least the films are able to tap the local market in order to make a decent profit.
This year, this does not seem to be happening. Except for a few industries like Punjabi, Gujrati etc. most of the industries are not making a festive release. Even if there is a release, it is of very small scale and fails to show any significant presence in the market. Also, the releases are not approaching National theatres which can provide them better exposure in this festive season.
Possibly due to a lot of films releasing in this week (that too big ones), the local filmmakers are playing it safe not releasing their films. After all, these regional films are made with a very low budget and can easily fail as they are screened in a smaller number of theatres. As the Diwali season expects huge releases that can dominate every region, the filmmakers are avoiding clashing with them so they don’t fail in the box office.
Nonetheless, the end result shows that there is a lack of local and regional cinema in one of the most relevant times of film releases.