Saaho’s Big Battle With Batla House, Mission Mangal Averted

This Republic  Day, get ready for  the clash of the  titans.

Three major films,Nikhil Advani’s  Batla House, new director  Jagan  Shakti’s  Mission Mangal and  the Prabhasstarrer Saaho which  would release in four languages , were  to release  simultaneously on August 15.

 But  now  Saaho, unarguably the biggest  of  the  trio, has  been postponed to August 30.

Nikhil  Advani who directs  Batla House,a real-life terror-drama, says the audience  will choose what  it  likes. “Now it is the same situation  as when Satyamev Jayate 2  and Gold were  released simultaneously  last year on August 15.It is  a  big holiday  weekend. Big enough  to accommodate  two films.People will choose what they want to see.But if they like what’s being offered, they will choose that first.Batla House is a story about an encounter that supposedly went wrong. It’s about country and duty so makes sense to come on Independence Day.”

The very talented and  young Sujeeth who directs  Baahubali star Prabhas in Saaho says, “We’re coming on August 30.The  two August 15 releases look  interesting. Even  I want to see what  John Abraham and Akshay Kumar have  done in  Batla House and  Mission Mangal.”

Trade  guru Taran  Adarsh welcomes  the decision to avert  the the  three-pronged  clash at the boxoffice.  “Does  the  public have the time  money  or inclination to see  three film on the same weekend? Three films means  the  screens and  theatres get divided by three  for each film.”

Trade analyst Amod Mehra  feels it is  suicidal for three  films to release together. “Saaho is a very big film being released in four languages and nearly all the cinemas are already booked.The teaser too has generated great expectations. From the  two  remaining films  Mission Mangal  is not only bigger but also a perfect release for Independence  Day. Batla House maybe just trying to generate some curiosity with free publicity and is likely  to bow out of the  race on August  15.”

 Adds trade  pundit Girish Johar, “Normally on a big holiday weekend two big films can easily settle down  at the boxoffice, have their proper marketing and release with satisfactory showcasing at the cinemas. Three  releases on August 15  would have been a problem of  abundance.”

 Johar  now  feels  the  Batla  House and  Mission Mangal need  to  work harder  on  the publicity. “They need to spend more to make the marketing buzz and  create more noise to get audience’s attraction as well. These releases  all feature big stars which are vying for audience attention. This is probably making each other scuttle for breathing space at the ticket windows. “

Johar  welcomes  the  decision  to  take the Saaho  forward. “The audiences get divided, the showcasing gets divided. Seeing the high ticket prices, there  is  no way that all three films would have been  watched by the same movie-going audiences.This makes the competition more cut-throat .The weaker film will fall much faster at theboxoffice and the strongest film’s  long run too  will  gets curtailed, as the  repeat viewing goes down.”

 Adds trade analyst Atul Mohan,  “It’s not right to release three big  releases  on the same  Friday.Saaho’spostponement is good  news  for all three releases. Business would have  got divided undoubtedly.Do people  today have  money and time to watch three  films in a week? The weakest would have definitely been impacted .And that’s an understatement.But here the best would  have  also been affected. I and glad  sense prevails for  the betterment of all and that one   of  the three films scheduled  for August 15 has  found  a safer landing-place. A smart businessman is the one who doesn’t carry heavy luggage of ego on his shoulder.”