B'wood seeks happy ending

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">MUMBAI: The Hindi film industry, which normally goes through a lean phase during September and October owing to what film-makers consider the inauspicious ‘pitrupaksh'' period, has had it particularly bad this year.<br /><br />With escapist cinema taking a backseat in preparation for an onslaught during the festive season, distributors have offloaded nearly two dozen low-budget films, but neither of them has shown any signs of reversing the one-way traffic of commercial failures."The period before Diwali is an ideal time for offbeat movies to make it to idle theatres," says Mahesh Dattani, director of the Shabana Azmi-starrer <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Morning Raga</span>.<br /><br />Small-budget and independent films may be a welcome trend for connoisseurs, but owing to the niche audience of offbeat cinema, flops have been piling up, say industry watchers.<br /><br />"Nothing seems to be working at the box office these days including big-budget movies," laments exhibitor Manoj Desai. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh says that everyone is hoping that films released during Diwali and the subsequent weeks will bail the industry out of the crisis.<br /><br />Diwali, which is traditionally a favourite time to launch, is going to be even more special this year. "After almost a decade the festival of lights won''t coincide with Ramazan, the Muslim month of abstinence. In fact, it is timed perfectly with Eid," beams film-maker Subhash Ghai.<br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br />As two of the biggest festivals come together, a host of biggies have been lined up.<br /><br />Offbeat cinema, skin flicks and supernatural thrillers are making way for tales of love and longing. Industrywallahs are hoping that the tried-and-tested formula of lovers torn apart by circumstances, the staple of Hindi cinema''s most commercially viable projects, will once again triumph this season.<br /><br />Veteran director Yash Chopra''s epic drama <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Veer Zaara</span>, the doomed romance of a prince and a courtesan in a repeat run of <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Mughal-E-Azam</span>, Mukta Arts'' tale of lust <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Aitraaz</span> and Ramgopal Varma''s <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Naach</span> are the films to look forward to during Diwali.<br /><br />Trade analysts estimate the amount of money riding on these four releases at Rs 125 crore, which is thrice that of October (Rs 40-45 crore).<br /><br />"November and December are very crucial since more that Rs 350 crore is at stake in these two months alone," says Adarsh.<br /><br />Exhibitors and film-makers are not worried that the films will eat into each others'' profits. "Aitraaz will not compete with <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Veer Zaara</span> and <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Mughal-E-Azam</span>. It may face competition from <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Naach</span> though," says the directorial duo Abbas Mustan.</div> </div>