7th July 2022
Hyderabad
Like his maiden film, Mathu Vadalara, which cast a spell on the audience upon release, Ritesh Rana didn’t conform to normal ways of promoting a movie with his second film, Happy Birthday, as well. Targeting mainly YouTube, the director and his team performed for a wide variety of skits—from conducting a comic debate on who’s the hero of the film among Satya, Naresh Agastya and Vennela Kishore with Getup Srinu as the no nonsense anchor to Closed Heart with VK to surreal pre-release event on Wednesday, they pulled out all stops to ensure that a word about the film spreads in the lead up to the release on Friday. And in a right way, benefiting the film.
As a film, Happy Birthday, fronted by Lavanya Tripathi, promises to be different from the ones that have released so far after the cinema halls opened last November—a factor which should work to its advantage, given that a large number of people got exposed to a wide variety of content on OTT platforms during the pandemic time. While one couldn’t decipher the plot from the trailer that was released last month, one thing’s for sure is that its surreal world filled with gun culture promises a rib-tickling laughter. And as SS Rajamouli analyzing why people aren’t coming to theatres in droves any more pointed out at the trailer launch, “Whatever we do, we should go the whole hog. If we do a comedy, the audience should be rolling in the aisles. Similarly, if we do an action film, we have to show them the greatest fights. If you do a film half-heartedly, people aren’t coming to theatres. If we do it completely, they will come.” Ritesh Rana seems to have just done that with Happy Birthday. And with a crew he forged a solid bond for the past one decade.
One more thing that should be working in favour of the film is the ticket prices. While the debate on whether the hike is the real issue for the audiences to not show up in large numbers of late or whether it is the lack of enticing content, continues to rage forward, the makers of Happy Birthday, on their part, have slashed the prices. In Telangana, the price of a balcony ticket in single screen is Rs 110 (for multiplex it’s Rs 177). With people sauntering into the cinema halls only to watch tent-pole cinema or a big star driven vehicle in the recent past, it remains to be seen whether the lowered fee will give the Happy Birthday a good or at least a half decent initial. If it does so, it will be interesting times ahead for Telugu cinema!
