SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2024
It was shocking to learn that big budgeted Bollywood movies like Aamir Khan's ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ and Akshay Kumar's ‘Raksha Bandhan’ had to cancel up to 1,300 and 1,000 shows, respectively, even after extensive promotion. This brings to mind the question about where Konkani films stands in this scenario. Sadly, the situation seems grimmer for Konkani filmmakers who are struggling to keep up their confidence since the set-back brought on by the pandemic.
‘Fotting No. 1’ which is written and directed by Joywin Fernandes was in cinemas just last week. The plan was to screen the film for at least a month but with hardy any moviegoers watching the film, it was cancelled after a week of screening. Befuddled, Fernandes is now planning to release his next film, ‘Rong’ directly on YouTube on August 24.
“Fotting No.1’ was released on June 6, 2022, and we had four shows at Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), one show in Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, and one week of screening of one show daily at all three Inox properties at Panjim, Porvorim and Margao. I am still surprised that people are not coming out to see movies in cinemas. My previous film, ‘7 Days’ was a thriller which was released before Covid. Since, ‘Fotting No. 1’ was a comedy, I was expecting more people to watch it,” says Fernandes.
‘Rong’ is produced by Joywin Fernandes and directed by Aggi Rod. The cast includes Kevin D’Mello, late Comedian Selvy, Lawry Travasso and Joe Rose. “I will be releasing my new film on YouTube directly. It will be for the first time a Konkani film is releasing directly on YouTube. People are not coming to the theatres, so YouTube seems to be the only option for filmmakers. I feel Konkani films will not release in theatres in the future. As directors, we have to change something and give the audience what they want,” explains Ferrnandes.
“When I heard the story of the film, I liked it so much that I produced it. The film was shot before Covid and was supposed to be released in March 2020. We can’t shelf movies so long as their relevance reduces and the shots look old. I still have two more films in the pipeline,” adds Fernandes.
‘Gang’ is still being screened in theatres and they had a screening on August 15 at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao. Directed by Elnish Rodrigues and produced by Joe Valent and Infant Jesus Production, the story and concept of the film is by Bladwin Da Silva, son of tiatrist Menino Mario, who also wrote the lyrics for the film. “The film was released on Easter Sunday and since then we had shows in Gomant Vidya Niketan and Ravindra Bhavan, Margao and various village shows. There are not that big crowds for films as compared to people going for tiatrs. People are looking for more songs in films and we have eight songs in the film. We have to give people waat they want to attract crowds,” says Menino Mario. The film will be screened at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao on August 26 at 7.30 pm.
Directed by Jitendra Shikerkar, ‘DCosta House’ was showcased at the 52nd International Film Festival of India last year. The crime thriller was screened for 12 shows in Ravindra Bhaavan, Margao. “We are planning to release the film in Inox and we are also in talks with various OTT platforms to release the film online. Since Covid, people have got into the habit of watching films online. They are still reluctant to go out to the theatres. There are many factors which are leading to the decreased footfalls in theatres. It is more of a 'health over entertainment' senarios. Only if people support the films, then producers can recover the money put into the film. We are planning to release the film in theatres post Ganesh Chaturthi. Hopefully, the situation will change and people will get more confident to step into theatres freely,” says Shikerkar.
Though filmmakers are being optimistic that this discouraging trend will change over time, they are still hoping for the Goan audience to support them by watching movies in theatres, where the real impact is felt on the big screen.
