IPL clash gets bigger as Bollywood enters the picture

Finally, the big Bollywood is ready to face off with the IPL. A slew of exciting movies by prominent production houses, with an estimated Rs 175-200 crore riding on them, will be released between April 4 and May 27 when the IPL's fifth edition takes place.

The big and medium budget movies slated for release during this period include Sajid Nadiadwala's " Housefull 2", Priyadarshan's " Tezz" starring Ajay Devgan, Mukesh Bhatt's "Jannat 2", Vikram Bhatt's 3D film "Dangerous Ishhq", Yash Raj Films's "Ishaqzaade" and Viacom 18 Motion Picture's action-thriller "Department". Besides, some small-budget films will also hit theaters the same time.

Trade analyst Komal Nahta says that while the IPL was a novel concept in the first few years, now the feeling is that the real excitement is only during the last few days of the finals. "Hence, filmmakers are confident of releasing their films during this period," says Nahta.

Moreover, the film industry has grown confident in the last two years with quite a few movies crossing the Rs 100 crore mark, says Rakesh Jariwala of Ernst & Young's entertainment division. In fact, Bollywood now believes it can even use the IPL as a platform to market its films, he adds.

During the first three IPL seasons, multiplex capacity utilization dipped. The event was dubbed as "a black window" where few big distributors dared release their films. Some exhibitors, in fact, preferred to project the IPL games rather than show a movie. The tide turned with IPL 4 when the T20 league's TAM ratings showed a dip. Last year, over 20 films were released during the period, including low-budget hits like "Stanley Ka Dabba".

Producer-director Mahesh Bhatt says, "We locked horns with IPL 1 with the release of Jannat in 2008. There's no change now as Jannat 2 releases as per schedule. Let's see who entertains better."