The trailer of upcoming Tamil film Dude was launched on Thursday. The primary team members of the film like producer Y Ravi Shankar, Sarathkumar and lead actor Pradeep Ranganathan — interacted with the media at the trailer launch event. On the occasion, producer Ravi Shankar addressed the subject of screen share during festival times which often see multiple releases.
Addressing a question about adequate screen allotment during multiple releases, Ravi Shankar said, “Diwali is the biggest festival in Tamil Nadu, and they have 700-800 theatres at best. In comparison, Telugu states have around 1800. So naturally, when all big films release on a festive occasion, each film only gets a certain number of screens.”
Y Ravi Shankar asserted that a good film always gets a good deal even in these circumstances. He added, “Even if a film gets few screens initially, the number of screens keeps getting adjusted depending on word-of-mouth, and keeps getting shifted from one film to another. You give the best content, and hit content, and you can take the screens.” Ravi Shankar noted that it is not right to blame any certain party in cases of small screen share, adding, “Whatver film is good will get maximum screens. Nobody needs to worry about it.”
He also said that he has no qualms in giving away screens allotted for Dude to another film if it performs exceptionally well. “Dude is an extraordinary, blockbuster-level film. But if a film is better than this, we are most welcoming and will have no problem allotting our screen share to that film,” he noted.
It is to be noted recently in an interview with Galatta, Kiran Abbavaram had spoken about his struggle to get any screens for his 2024 film KA in Tamil Nadu. K-Ramp is slated to hit theatres on October 18, and will fight for audience’s attention against multiple films like Mithra Mandali and Telusu Kada.
Despite originally being a Tamil film, Dude too joins the massive box office clash now, considering Pradeep Ranganathan’s both previous films — Love Today and Dragon — performed very well in its Telugu dubbed version too. The film will also benefit hugely from the fact that its producers Mythri Movie Makers are from Telugu industry.
