How KRG Studios juggled successfully between Dasara & Gurudev Hoysala

The extended Sri Rama Navami weekend brought along not one but multiple goodies for moviegoers. Starting Thursday, March 30, the weekend beckoned to the audiences with a whole range of cinema on offer, promising something for everyone at the movies. For the Kannada audiences, Dhananjaya's landmark 25th film Gurudev Hoysala made its way out whereas popular Telugu actor Nani, fondly referred to as the Natural Star, arrived in the cinema halls with his mega pan-Indian effort Dasara.

In the same vein, two remakes hit the big screens on March 30 in the form of the Simbu-starrer Pathu Thala (remake of the 2017 film Mufti, starring Shiva Rajkumar & Sriimurali) and Ajay Devgn's Bholaa (remake of Lokesh Kanagaraj's Kaithi, starring Karthi). The following day, which is the final Friday of March, saw Vetrimaaran's period crime thriller, Viduthalai Part 1, release in cinema halls. Five films of distinctive sensibilities that have stemmed from equally unique voices to choose from.

But quite interestingly, Gurudev Hoysala and Dasara are tied together by the popular production & distribution entity, KRG Studios. The former film has been both produced & distributed by KRG Studios as a follow-up to their maiden effort Rathnan Prapancha (also starring Dhananjaya), which was a direct OTT release in the year 2021. KRG has also distributed Dasara in Karnataka to forge a fascinating internal clash that, if not handled well, could prove to be unsavoury for all the parties involved.

So, how did KRG Studios juggle the two projects? Turns out they strategised the distribution in such a way that the "clash" was mitigated to the best extent and utilised the vast theatrical habitat of Karnataka to allow both films to thrive in their own ways.

A source part of the KRG Studios setup says, "We had announced the release of Gurudev Hoysala first but actor Nani wanted us to bring his film on board as well, considering that KRG has worked with him in the past as the Karnataka distributors of HIT: The Second Case. Once the decision was made to have both films as part of the slate, it was about choosing the right regions for them. Dasara is a pan-Indian release so the film was releasing in both Telugu and Kannada here in Karnataka so we picked the right places for the right version. If you notice, the film has released in both versions in Bengaluru and Mysuru whereas other specific centres have only one of the two. Gurudev Hoysala, on the other hand, gets a wider release in Karnataka because it's a bona fide Kannada film - we have dedicated about 275 screens for Gurudev Hoysala and 160 screens to Dasara. Karnataka is wide enough as a territory to accommodate two big releases at the same time."

Regardless, one would reckon that the influx of big releases only comes as a benefit considering that audiences would feel compelled to step out of their homes and visit cinema halls. And with each film offering something unique, it allows for democratic viewing to come to the fore. 

Both Dasara and Gurudev Hoysala have opened to positive reviews and it would be interesting to see how they fare during the extended weekend.