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NOT THE RIGHT TIME FOR BOX OFFICE WARS?
As the entertainment industry is on a road to recovery amid the pandemic with 100% occupancy in cinemas, many films have lined up for release. And as a result, filmmakers are now filling up the calendar which has quite a few clashes. John Abraham’s Satyameva Jayate 2 is set to clash with Salman Khan’s Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai this Eid, SS Rajamouli’s pan India project, RRR is clashing with Ajay Devgn’s Maidaan, Shahid Kapoor’s Jersey and Alia Bhatt’s Gangubai Kathiawadi are both eyeing a Diwali release and there is also speculation about a possible clash between Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan and Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha.
But the question arises that given the financial health of the film industry, shouldn’t clashes be avoided this year?
Film producer Anand Pandit says, “When two big ticket films clash on a Friday, everybody loses. The momentum that can turn a film into a blockbuster can be hindered when another big film is competing with it,” he shares.
Musing the same sentiment, trade analyst Atul Mohan adds to it,
“At least, for one more year, we should avoid clashes. We have to get back into the business and leave the egos aside. Makers should not get into fights for screens.”
Industry experts also feel that a clash between two films of different genres is still acceptable but one between films which cater to the same audience base is not ideal. “It’d be nice to have something in the cinemas for all kinds of audiences at any given point of time. But movies poised to cannibalise into each other’s business is not a great idea,” says exhibitor Akshaye Rathi.
Then there are also the regional and Hollywood films which will make the release calendar all the more crowded. Chiranjeevi’s Telugu film Acharya and Venkatesh’s Narappa is coming out on Eid. Telugu film BB3 (Balayya Babu 3) starring Nandamuri Balakrishna and Ravi Teja’s Khiladi will release on May 28.
“Producers have limited Fridays, holidays. Everyone wants to recover the loss,” explains trade analyst Taran Adarsh. But insiders are still hopeful that at least some clashes can be avoided. “There is still time and I am hopeful that rationalization will happen between those involved,” Rathi adds.
“The acknowledgement email gives the exact Google location of the drive-through centre. Each car gets a 5-10 minute time slot. From booking a test to getting the report, the entire process is contactless. Payments are only online,” he says.
Taking charge of an iconic institution, established in 1983, was a big responsibility, but he has taken it to new heights. “The pandemic has been a huge learning curve for me and my team. With God’s grace and our team’s hard work, we have made it,” says the proud recipient of the HT Trailblazer award.
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Aprajita Sharad
WThe Hindustan Times Trailblazer Awards 2021 presented by Ambience, are honouring eight individuals who have shown grit and acumen during the Covid-19 pandemic that shook the worldrld in 2020. Here are the first two awardees.
hen you first meet Kapil Chopra, you know he’s an outstanding hotelier, an enthusiastic art collector and genius entrepreneur, who was one of the youngest presidents of Oberoi Hotels, before he gave it all up to start his own chain of boutique properties, The Postcard Hotels. But dig a little deeper and you meet a Delhi boy with dreams, founder of an NGO called Charity Beds.
Chopra’s NGO has been instrumental in helping the capital fight Covid-19. But its story precedes the pandemic. He read an article on the right of the economically weaker section of society to hospital beds. “I learnt the Supreme Court had directed hospitals to put up boards in their lobby, listing beds available and occupied by the EWS. So I went to private hospitals and collected this information, put it up on charitybeds.com for any poor person to see which hospital had beds available for them,” he says.
The biggest problem in Delhi when the pandemic hit, Chopra says, was “availability of hospital beds. Due to our work over nine years we knew which ICU in which hospital had how many beds vacant. So while the authorities were saying there are 1,600 beds available, we countered them that 1,600 bed nahi, 60 beds hai!” He used social media to spread this. “I started tweeting live Covid updates of beds in every hospital! This was retweeted and we managed to save lives,” says a delighted Chopra.
And the HT Trailblazers presented by Ambience awardee worked selflessly. “Charity Beds doesn’t accept any donation. The work was funded out of my own money,” Chopra adds.