HYDERABAD: Politicians have much more than just a long weekend to worry about when the state goes to polls on December 7. While they hope for an impressive voter turnout, a busy day at the movies that Friday, could well act as a deterrent, especially given the craze for Telugu films among locals.
As it stands, at least seven Telugu movies are slated to hit theatres next Friday with one of them being Ram Gopal Varma’s bilingual Bhairava Geetha (in Telugu and Kannada) that was initially scheduled for release on November 30. But perhaps for the fear of being drowned out by Rajnikanth’s 2.0 mania, it was later shifted to December 7. Of course, RGV, had a different reason for this change in date.
Taking to Twitter on November 27 the filmmaker said: “Due to some censor-related technical issues, Bhairava Geetha is releasing on December 7th election day. Please vote for Bhairava Geetha”. The film will see the launch of new-face-on-the-block, Irra Mor.
Also up for release on the same day is Sundeep Kishan and Tamannah-starrer Next Enti. The movie is said to be based on the Hollywood hit When Harry Met Sally and has already generated quite a buzz among cine-goers is expected to attract large crowds to the theatres.
Subramanyapuram with Akkineni Nageswara Rao’s grandson Sumanth and Esha Rebba in the lead roles too is set for release. Posters of the film are seen fluttering in multiple parts of the city and has sparked interest among the crowds. In fact, on Saturday, Sumanth even tweeted about the upcoming flick that has T-town biggie Rana Daggubati doing a voiceover.
If all of them were not enough, Kavacham starring Bellamkonda Sai Srinivas and produced by his father, the famous Bellamkonda Suresh is also on the list of December 7 releases along with Shubhalekha+lu, Hushaaru and Suvarna Sundari. The cast of Kavacham also includes popular female actor Kajal Agarwal, who boasts a significant fan following here, Mehreen Pirzada, and Bollywood actors Neil Nitin Mukesh and Harshavardhan Rane.
Asked if this flood of T-releases would impact the voter turnout, chief electoral officer, Rajat Kumar said that it wasn’t too much of a concern. “I don’t think movie releases will have major impact on polling as it does not take more than an hour or two,” he said adding that the ECI does not have any control over the release dates of movies.
Will the big screens dampen turnout on poll day? Only time will tell...
Sushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyde...
Read MoreSushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyderabad. He began his journalism career at the age of 20 in 1988. He is a gold medalist in journalism from the Department of Communication and Journalism, Arts College, Osmania University, Hyderabad from where he did his post-graduation from. He has been with The Times of India’s Hyderabad edition since its launch in 2000. He has also done an introductory course in film studies from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and also from the Central University of Kerala equipping himself with the knowledge of filmmaking for film criticism. He has authored four books. In his career spanning 34 years, he has worked for five newspapers and has also done television reporting. He was also a web journalist during internet’s infancy in the mid 1990s in India. He covers defence, politics, diaspora, innovation, administration, the film industry, Hyderabad city and Telangana state, and human interest stories. He is also a podcaster, blogger, does video reporting and makes documentaries.
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