Saaho vs Nerkonda Paarvai vs Phailwaan: A triangular fight for bigger pie at box office in August

Coming August, the South Indian film industry will witness the clash of biggies at the box office. The films of A-list actors from Tamil, Telugu and Kannada film industries are scheduled for release to coincide with the Independence Day celebration.

Among the three movies, the makers of Nerkonda Paarvai were first to announce the release date of the film. In March, Boney Kapoor said that the flick will be out on 10 August (Saturday). It was a smart decision taken by the team to avoid a clash with Prabhas' Saaho, which will see the light of the day on 15 August.

Although the release date of Saaho was formally announced recently, the makers have kept the distributors and others involved in the business informed about their release plans. As a result, Boney Kapoor decided to release the film a couple of days before Prabhas-starrer hit the screens.

Now, Kiccha Sudeep's Pailwaan has also joined the race. The multilingual Kannada film will be out on 9 August. It means the multiplexes and single screens will have a tough time in allotting shows for the three films, especially in the places where all three have market.

"If it was a clash between two biggies with a few days gap, we should not have worried much. But it becomes difficult to allot shows for three films from different film industries even if there is some gap. The release of Akshay Kumar's Mission Mangal will only make matters worse for the distributors and producers," Manjunath, who distribute non-Kannada films in Karnataka, tells the International Business Times.

Karnataka is one place where Kannada, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu movies have a good market. "If we go by the latest release plans, Pailwaan and Nerkonda Paarvai will have one day gap between its releases. Whereas Saaho will arrive five days later. The real challenge begins when both Sudeep and Ajith films are opened to positive reviews and theatre owners cannot give lesser shows for the films that have been received well by the audience," an industry insider tells us.

Saaho and Pailwaan are multilingual movies, while Nerkonda Paarvai is likely to be released only in Tamil.

The Prabhas-starrer, though bigger than Sudeep's film, will lock horns with Pailwaan in Karnataka and North India. In overseas, it is way ahead of the film originally made in Kannada. As far as Nerkonda Paarvai is concerned, its stronghold is Tamil Nadu and Kerala along with a few overseas centres.

"Saaho might pose some challenge for Nerkonda Paarvai in Tamil Nadu and Kerala if it is marketed well like SS Rajamouli did for Baahubali series. Nonetheless, the three films will try hard to get a bigger pie from the competitive market this time," a leading tracker from South India says.