COVID-19 lockdown: Bollywood stares at big losses

The Hindi film industry could be looking at losses between Rs 600 and 700 crore in April-June, the first quarter of 2020.

COVID-19 has badly affected Bollywood's box office.

The releases of over a dozen high-budget top-starrer films have been rescheduled in the wake of the pandemic outbreak.

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Besides, the shooting has come to a standstill for over a fortnight now.

The release of Rohit Shetty's Sooryavansi, starring Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif, and Kabir Khan's 83, starring Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone, has been deferred.

Besides, Salman Khan starrer Radhe and Laxmmi Bomb, in which Akshay Kumar essays the lead role too have been deferred. These too were being planned for Eid release.
The release of Gulabo Sitabo, which will see Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurana together, and Coolie No 1, starring Varun Dhavan and Sara Ali Khan, too has been affected.

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"It we look at this bouquet, it has the capacity to attract people cutting across generations. This is also the time of school and college breaks. The industry will miss out on that," says veteran writer and film analyst Naveen Kumar.
Box office analysts said that the loss in terms of the India release of the films and overseas collections and TV rights have not been accounted for.