GUWAHATI, April 26 - After running houseful in some shows during the first week, the sequel to Assamese cult classic Local Kung Fu faces uncertainty as cinema owners in the region are not supporting the film and are set to take it down this Friday, director and actor Kenny Deori Basumatary said today.
While the Assamese film opened to houseful shows at many theatres, the film is set to lose revenue and a lot of fans will be deprived of enjoying the comedy as cinema owners are not bullish on the film�s prospects. �We faced a lot of difficulties in getting a Wednesday release for Local Kung Fu 2. While some theatres in Assam supported us, most refused to give more shows to us even though the limited numbers of shows were doing good business. We are now saddened to learn that our film will be taken down this Friday. Is this the way these cinema hall owners treat local cinema? I am shocked to say the least,� said Basumatary at a press conference.
Local Kung Fu 2 was released across the State on April 19. Shows at PVR Guwahati, Inox Jorhat, Anuradha Guwahati and other places were booked to over 80 per cent capacity online and the rest of the seats filled up through counter sales much before the shows actually began.
�We got to see the success of Local Kung Fu 2 with our own eyes from the houseful shows at PVR Guwahati on the first few days. The audience really appreciated the film and we got a standing ovation after the show ended. We also came to know that INOX Jorhat was housefull on the first day itself. That was a really wonderful experience. Some halls were unable to give us good timings as they are controlled from outside Assam. But looking at the success of the film in its first 2 days, we eventually got evening shows at a few halls,� Basumatary said.
�If no one was watching our film, it is quite obvious that theatre owners would remove it. But it is doing really well, getting housefuls and tremendous response. So why should an Assamese film be removed from Assam theatres by non-Assamese people sitting in Bangalore and Delhi? Would Telugu/Tamil/Marathi/Bengali films be removed like this in their states? And if we let outsiders control us like this, well, I might as well stop trying to make Assamese movies and focus on my Mumbai career,� Basumatary added.
Executive producer Durlov Baruah said, �An Assamese film gets around 40 halls, out of which around 20 are not in good condition. So we have just 20 halls to break even. Even if all shows are houseful, 20 halls cannot give us profitability in a week because unlike Bollywood films, we do not have many opportunities to screen our movies outside Assam. If the film is not doing well, it is understandable to drop it, but in spite of Local Kung Fu 2 doing so well, we are looking at an uncertain future. In one week, we have hardly managed to collect about Rs 6-6.5 lakh.�
