India's World cup exit a boon for Bollywood - analysts by AFP

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Event:

ICC World Cup 2006/07

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DateLine: 30th March 2007

 

India's shock first-round exit from World Cup cricket last week has brought audiences back to Bollywood box offices after a sluggish start to the year, analysts said.

 

Audiences have risen for three movies -- "Namastey London" (Greetings London), "Traffic Signal" and "Honeymoon Travel Pvt Ltd" -- since the cricket-mad nation was knocked out last weekend, they said.

 

Crowds are "coming back to the movies (for the newly released 'Namastey London') with the World Cup season over for India," said movie trade analyst Vinod Mirani.

 

Other movies released earlier this year like "Traffic Signal" and "Honeymoon Travel" were also seeing bigger audience numbers, said another analyst Taran Adarsh.

 

Bollywood -- the world's largest movie making industry - had expected dull weeks ahead with the World Cup.

 

No mega-movie releases had been planned until the tournament ended April 28.

 

Bollywood's first quarter performance this year has been dismal with 24 movies failing at the box office, Adarsh said.

 

"The industry has suffered a loss of 550 million rupees (12.5 million dollars) between January-March this year," Adarsh told AFP.

 

The only movies to have fared well are "Guru" and "Namastey London," both starring Abhishek Bachchan, one of India's leading actors, Adarsh said.

 

Traditionally, cinema attendance picks up in May with the start of the school summer holidays.

(Article: Copyright © 2007 AFP)