Money matters

Jasmine Singh

The much-hyped Bollywood film Dangal decided to shift its release date from December to next year January 2017. Oh yes, get another demonetisation affect! And it isn’t Bollywood alone, Punjabi entertainment is feeling the heat of the moment too.

This December was going to see the release of five Punjabi films including Priyanka Chopra’s Sarvann, Mahesh Bhatt’s Dushman and Mika Singh’s Sardar Saab. Thanks to the Government, the filmmakers and production houses have decided to carry their releases for next year, hoping, by then common man would have enough Rs 500 and smaller denominators to spend, true?

“Absolutely,” nods the director of Sardar Saab, Amit Prasher, “Watching Punjabi films is the last thing on people’s mind. Everyone is either queued up outside an ATM or struggling with bank transactions. It is dangerous to release a film at this time.”

Punjabi filmmakers like Bollywood are worried about the state of affairs, as demonetisation is also affecting movies, in a big way. Bollywood film Rock On 2’s disaster validates this. “

“I was all set for a December 30 release,” shares Vinay Bhardwaj, producer of Dushman, who has now shifted his film’s release to January. “I am not sure whether the situation will be better in January, I am just hoping.”

With most of the popular Punjabi movie releases being shifted to January, filmmakers are still not okay with this arrangement. With Punjab Assembly elections falling somewhere February 2017, filmmakers do not want to release their films in either Feb or March.

Director Hardeep is anxious about the entire situation. The production like all other productions has to face a tough time dealing with cash and most importantly, change. On the other hand popular Punjabi film director Pankaj Batra who was initially to start shooting for Sairat’s remake in Punjabi is keeping everything on hold for 15-20 days. Pankaj’s film stars Punjabi singer Ninja in the lead role. “Look at what happened to films like Rock On 2, it was a complete wash out due to demonetisation. With the common men worried about how to get their own hard-earned money, how can we even think of shooting? “Filmmaking is about keeping the flow of money going, and the present situation does no good to this,” he adds. Pankaj would start shooting at a better time.

jasmine@tribunemail.com