Despite strike, Ram Gopal Varma sticks to July release for Agyaat

By Bollywood Hungama News Network -

June 2, 2009 - 11:15 AM IST

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Even as Bollywood release calendar is expected to go topsy-turvy once the stand off between producers and multiplexes comes to some resolution, Ram Gopal Varma and UTV Motion Pictures are sticking to the earlier announced release plans for their horror flick Agyaat. While there is a huge backlog of films that have accumulated over last two months and it is expected to be a nightmarish time for most producers to bring their films to theatre on priority, Agyaat is not buzzing from its 24th July release date.

Despite strike, Ram Gopal Varma sticks to July release for Agyaat

Confirms Ram Gopal Varma, who is fast wrapping up the principal shoot of Rann and is already looking at kick starting Rakta Charitra, "Yes, Agyaat is definitely arriving on 24th July."

Shikha Kapoor - Marketing Head, UTV Motion Pictures - further goes on to elaborate, "We are gearing up for 24th July release. We hope to attract significant foot falls as it will be one of the few releases after a silent first half of the year. The first quarter of 2009 was hardly productive for the industry while the second half has seen a virtual standstill with hardly any notable releases."

While Agyaat has started firming up its release plan, it would be interesting to see how Kaminey fits into the scheme of things. Yet another UTV Motion Pictures production, the promotion of this Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra starrer had begun in theaters a few months back but the sudden strike by producers resulted in aborted plans for the film.

If Agyaat indeed comes in the month of July, then UTV Motion Pictures is expected to be challenged by logistics hassles if it were to bring Kaminey in quick time too. Reason being, that it is impossible for the film to arrive in June (since it would need at least 6 weeks of sustained promotion) and bringing both Kaminey and Agyaat in the month of July may not really be the best call taken by the production house.

In any case, UTV Motion Pictures has quite a few films piling up for release and Agyaat along with Kaminey are not the only ones amongst the crowd. In months to come, the production house has movies like Kissan, Aage Se Right, Paan Singh Tomar, Hook Ya Crook, What's Your Rashee, Wake Up Sid and Johnny Mastana in the pipeline. This is not all as another arm of UTV, UTV Spotboy, too has at least two films gearing up for release soon - Main Aur Mrs. Khanna and Season Greetings.

With close to a dozen odd films slated for release in the second half of the year, it is but obvious that there would be a release-a-fortnight situation for UTV unless it decides to push some of its films to 2010.

However, a source close to Agyaat further reaffirms that there is no way this film primarily set in a jungle would move ahead, "Whatever happens, Ramu's Agyaat releases on 24th July 2009. The film is going to arrive with a bang because of quite a few factors. First and foremost, it has names like Ram Gopal Varma and UTV attached to it. Secondly, it would be released in three languages - Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. It's going to be one big film after the strike is called off."

Agyaat is about a film unit that goes for a shoot at a location deep in the forest of Sri Lanka where each character exhibits his/her own quirkiness, arrogance and mixed feelings for each other.

Starring Nitin Reddy, Priyanka Kothari, Ravi Kale, Ishrat Ali, Harvey Rosemeyer, Kali Prasad Mukherjee, Rasika Duggal, Joy Fernandes, Ishteyak and Gautum Rode in principal roles, Agyaat has music by Bapi & Tutul and is a thriller that revolves around the realm of fear.