By Joginder Tuteja
'Raat Gayi Baat Gayi', last year’s last day (31st Dec ’09) release has seen mixed reviews coming its way. Given the fact that there are multiple releases in the month of January and audiences are wary about stepping into theaters until and unless there is something exceptional in the offing, what made the team of 'Raat Gayi Baat Gayi' to release the film in the midst of it all?
"When else does a film release otherwise”, co-producer Rajat Kapoor shoots back, "This will always be the case regardless of the month and week that you choose, especially when we have 200 films made every year. This amounts to 4 films a week. Now keep a couple of months aside for IPL and we are talking about a further higher number of film releases every week."
He is unperturbed by the decision of releasing the film on the last day of the year. "Personally I don't think it was a problem to come on 31st December. When '3 Idiots' released, even it was competing against 'Avatar'", he says.
Incidentally 'Raat Gayi Baat Gayi' was completed close to 2 years back but it was stuck for release due to numerous reasons.
"Our film was basically shot in January 2008 and then recession hit us", remembers Rajat, "We later finished the film by September last year and were aiming for an October-November release. Then there was this terrorist attack and the whole plan went for a toss. 2009 was anyways bad for the industry with IPL and also the multiplex strike. This was followed by a sudden rush of big films due to which there was no window for 'Raat Gayi Baat Gayi'. What do we do in such a situation? Either you have to make a film during 2010 IPL or don't release it all. We chose to bring it now" he concludes.
