March releases: There, but rare!

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">So nobody in Bollywood is worried about the World Cup.<br /><br />World Cup? What World Cup? As far as Bollywood is concerned, the cricketing action in South Africa has seized to matter — irrespective of whether India reaches the Super Six stage, the semi-finals or the final. Kyunki the fact of the matter is that the Hindi film industry has no release worth the mention lined up for March.<br /><br />Yes, before the World Cup commenced, the focus was on whether cricket would force producers to defer the release dates of their movies. But now, with the likes of Khushi and Baaz The Bird in Danger past the silver-screen post and no major movie to look forward to in the future, the World Cup has become a non-issue for producers. <br /><br />Of course, when a producer says that he does not care about the World cup, then the obvious inference is that the film in question has few takers in distribution circles.<br /><br />So, which are the films the audience should expect to see during the month of March? <br />For starters, there is Stumped, produced by Raveena Tandon, who hopes that World Cup fever will prompt people to see her film. <br /><br />Then there is Om, which is produced and directed by Ashok Handa and stars newcomer Attin and Sandali Sinha of Tum Bin fame. Incidentally, Handa is one guy who believe in making films with loads of action. Not surprisingly, Sunil Shetty was his favourite actor till now.<br /><br />Also in the pipeline is Indian Babu, the papa-produced debut vehicle of London-based Jaz Pandher. Of course, the story of a pardesi Indian returning home is as new as Govinda’s jhatkas, but that’s the way things are for this film directed by Lawrence D’Souza (remember Saajan?).<br /><br />Hopefully, March 21 will see the release of Chura Liya Hai Tumne..., the maiden movie of Zayed Khan, who was recently rendered the victim of a brawl in a bar. A Hindi version of Charade, this film is directed by Sangeeth Sivan, whose Sandhya is also due for release without a date being finalised.<br /><br />While Subhash Ghai’s Mukta Arts had announced that the David Dhawan-directed Ek Aur Ek Gyarah, starring Govinda and Sanjay Dutt, would be released in April, the film is now expected to be released on March 28, by which time even the post-World Cup hangover would have died down.<br /><br />For the time being though, it’s best to keep an eye on the small screen. After all, with Bollywood not exactly stealing a march on cricket in March, nobody — but nobody— wants to be left stumped!<br /><br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">pankaj.kapoor2000@indiatimes.com</span></div> </div>