The million-dollar question today is: Will Reliance Entertainment keep the date of Sooryavanshi with the cinemas on 30th April or not? Nobody seems to have a definitive answer, not even Reliance Entertainment itself. That’s because the situation on the coronavirus front is changing every three to five days.
With exactly a month to go before the Rohit Shetty film hits the screens, it is almost impossible for the producers (Akshay Kumar, Rohit Shetty and Karan Johar, besides Reliance) to say with certainty whether they will be able to release the highly anticipated movie on the scheduled date. The second outbreak of the virus seems to be more vicious than the first one. With daily cases in the country almost touching 60,000, various state governments have introduced different measures to arrest the growing numbers. The biggest casualty of the new measures is the film industry. While some state governments like Madhya Pradesh have ordered the closure of cinemas once again, there are others like the Maharashtra and Punjab governments which have stipulated that night curfews will be observed in many cities in their states. This would mean that all the night shows in these states would have to be cancelled by single-screen cinemas and multiplexes.
For a big film like Sooryavanshi, it would be impossible for its producers to release the film on 30th April if the situation does not change. Suspension of night shows, night curfews, closure of cinemas during the weekends… these restrictions can never be conducive to the release of big-budget fares like Sooryavanshi, Radhe and 83. But despite this fact, if Reliance is not able to conclusively announce whether Sooryavanshi will hit the screens on 30th April or 83 will definitely release on 4th June or if Salman Khan is unable to commit that Radhe would be the Eid gift to his fans, it is because neither the film industry nor the government nor even the medical practitioners can say with conviction what the position of the virus will be, say, a fortnight from now. Of course, for a film like Sooryavanshi, every passing day is extremely important because its promotion needs to be started in full swing if it is to release on 30th April. Promotion of the other two aforementioned films can wait but for Sooryavanshi, there’s just one month to go if it has to keep its date with the public. Therefore, in the case of Sooryavanshi, a decision this way or that will have to be taken in the next six or seven days, at best. On the one hand are the growing number of new coronavirus cases in India and on the other, the fact that lakhs of people are being vaccinated. The vaccine is expected to increase people’s immunity and, therefore, change the mindset about frequenting crowded places like cinemas.
Exhibitors are, therefore, on tenterhooks. Sooryavanshi has all along been their biggest hope to bring back the audiences to the cinemas after their reopening post-lockdown. Films like Tenet and Godzilla Vs. Kong have shown impressive numbers in the post-COVID scenario but one expects collections for Sooryavanshi to go through the roof. However, with the innumerable restrictions on cinemas, big films like Sooryavanshi, Radhe and 83 can never record collections of the kind needed for such big-budget films. And that is what might prompt their producers to postpone the release of the films. Unless, of course, things change for the better… and very fast!
Meanwhile, the media is making hay while the coronavirus strikes. Countless self-styled film journalists and trade analysts have already announced that Sooryavanshi would be premiering on OTT instead of cinemas because of the growing number of COVID cases. But ask them, how they know this, and they have no answer. Obviously, because even Reliance Entertainment has not taken the decision to premiere the film on OTT. As of now, Reliance Entertainment has not made any change to its earlier announcement that Sooryavanshi will release in cinemas on 30th April.