Tollywood: Reaching out!

That Tollywood has a sizeable viewership outside Bengal is nothing new. Unfortunately, these cine-goers have always had to wait for their vacations in Kolkata or for a DVD of their films to release before they could catch their fave Bengali films.
In recent times, some Bengali films that had a smattering of English also had got a release outside Bengal.But on most occasions, it would take a few months before the films made it to the theatres in Mumbai and Kolkata.
Things, however, are all set to change now. First, there was news of Shukno Lanka getting a simultaneous release nationally on July 2. And now comes the news of Arpita-Shayan Munshi starrer Ekti Tarar Khonje getting a simultaneous National release on June 25.
Says Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, ���������While Anuranan was released both in Delhi and Mumbai, Antaheen was released in Mumbai. But these films never got a simultaneous release. The Japanese Wife too had a National release but it was a bilingual film. ETK, in contrast, is an out-and-out Bengali film.
With ETK, we are targeting Bengali cine-viewers in not just Delhi and Mumbai but also in smaller towns. There is an audience for Bengali cinema waiting out there in places like Lucknow and Visakhapatnam. We want to target that audience with ETK���������s national release.���������
But what about cynics��������� comments about Aniruddha���������s movies being too urbane with wafer-thin plots to appeal to a larger section of people? ���������I���������ve often been accused of making films that don���������t have any viewership beyond the Hooghly. By releasing the film nationally across so many centres, it���������ll be a litmus test for us. Besides, I���������m also releasing the film in the US,��������� he adds. As for his next directorial outing, Anirrudha says, ���������My scripts are ready but the box-office returns of ETK will decide which movie I���������ll start working on next.���������
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