KOCHI: Ending the drought being faced by Mollywood owing to the World Cup Cricket and examination seasons, the boxoffice is slowly waking up from the slumber. An array of new releases, including three multi-starrers, will hit the movie houses this summer.
Till the mid-March, the Mollywood faced a crisis-like situation with no new releases with the start of the World Cup Cricket extravaganza. However, after a gap of one-and-a-half months, director Joshiy’s multistarrer Christian Brothers hit the screens on March 18.
The film bagged good initial collections all over Kerala and is running successfully in theatres now. Boasting of a grand star cast including Mohanlal, Suresh Gopi, Dileep and Sarath Kumar, the film is said to be a mass entertainer.
The movie followed was August 15, the Mammootty starrer, directed by Shaji Kailas. The film also has a grand opening all over the state.
The visual extravaganza Urumi directed by Santhosh Sivan will hit the screens on March 31. Produced by Shaji Natesan, Prithviraj and Santhosh Sivan, the film is an epic saga. With a huge star cast including Prithviraj, Genelia D’Souza, Prithviraj, Prabhu Deva, Arya, Nithya Menon, Tabu and Vidya Balan, Urumi is one of the expensive movies produced in Malayalam. The large canvas makes it a world film and the producers are planning an English version of the film titled Vasco Da Gama’, and a Tamil version Pathinaindham Nootrandu Uraivaal.
The Vishu season will also see two major releases Doubles and China Town. Produced by Antony Perumbavoor under the banner Ashirvad Cinemas, China Town is a multi starrer with Mohanlal, Dileep and Jayaram in lead roles. Directed by Rafi Mecartin, the movie is an action comedy.
Doubles, directed by debutant Sohan Seenu Lal, will have Mammootty and Nadia Moithu in the lead roles.
Sachi-Sethu team pens the script for the movie. Both Doubles and China Town are slated to release by April 15. Though the theatre owners and producers are banking on the multistarrers and big films to bring the movie lovers back to the cinemas, another anxiety is likely to rise in their minds. In a country where cricket sells like anything, will the drought continue with 2011 edition of the IPL scheduled to begin right after the World Cup.