T-Series, John Abraham to co-produce new film ‘Tara vs Bilal’

NEW DELHI: Bhushan Kumar-owned T-Series and actor John Abraham will co-produce a film called Tara vs Bilal, starring Harshvardhan Rane and Sonia Rathee that will release in cinemas on 14 October. It has been directed by Samar Iqbal.

Despite the failure of Jayeshbhai Jordaar, Anek, Attack, and Shabaash Mithu, made at modest budgets, a number of mid-sized films are looking to cash in on the post-covid demand, as smaller films are critical for both actors as well as the exhibition sector.

However, ever since covid-led restrictions were eased, the audiences have been flocking theatres only for large spectacles, said trade experts.

The content pipeline must keep flowing for the theatres to make up for the losses during covid and to grow.

Actors Fahadh Faasil, Tovino Thomas and Rajkummar Rao who witnessed reasonable success with the films released directly on the streaming platforms during covid, and even garnering critical acclaim, are also looking to release their upcoming films in theatres.

Faasil’s latest film Malayankunju was released in cinemas last month while Rao’s HIT: The First Case hit the cinemas too. A lot of actors and filmmakers have realised box office is critical for the film to generate enough chatter among audiences. You can always recover investments through an OTT release, but the audience validation beyond social media, which is a small world anyway, is important, according to trade experts. Theatrical releases are important to actors even if the film doesn’t fare well at the box office, they win audience’s love and appreciation while response to web releases is not as easy to gauge.

Although cinemas are not happy about anything other than hardcore commercial entertainers at the moment, with some even considering it a waste of time, all actors, especially in the south, are aware that stardom can only be sustained through theatrical releases.