PremiumRakshit Shetty’s Sapta Sagaradaache Ello Side B to be postponed further?
The buzz in industry circles is that with only 20 days to go and no promotions yet, the team could look at a new date after all
Last Updated: 05.25 PM, Oct 07, 2023
A 7-week gap between the two parts of his film Sapta Sagaradaache Ello. That was actor-filmmaker Rakshit Shetty’s plan when he announced that the Hemanth M Rao directorial would have two instalments – Side A and Side B - and that they would be in theatres on September 1 and October 20, respectively. Side A released in Kannada only on September 1, with limited screens outside of Karnataka. The film, Rakshit had said, would grow and travel organically, which it did, albeit to Andhra and Telangana only, where he released a dubbed version three weeks later. Within a week of the Telugu release, though, Sapta Sagaradaache Ello was on OTT, in all languages, under a 30-day deal with Amazon Prime Video that had been entered into long ago.
On the day of the OTT release, Rakshit announced that he was pushing the release of Sapta Sagaradaache Ello Side B ahead by a week to October 27. This time, he was looking at giving the film a simultaneous release in all the languages, since Side A did reasonably well after its OTT outing. But with less than three weeks to go, there’s no news from the team and no promotional material whatsoever. Agreed that Side A ended with a glimpse into what Side B entails, but fans of the film have been expecting a full trailer and maybe even a song or two. For Side A also, the team had revealed two songs and a trailer prior to the release, so that’s the bare minimum expectation as of now. Hemanth has said that Side B too has 6 songs.
The filmmaker had also said that the team was looking at reconvening and starting Side B promotions around mid-October, which would give them less than two weeks. Considering the momentum Side A achieved and that there’s a sizeable audience waiting for side B, even two weeks would be sufficient, but if the film is having a pan-India release, it would require more time to allow them to travel to these markets too. This has now led to speculation in industry circles that Sapta Sagaradaache Ello Side B may be postponed further, with a Deepavali outing reckoned as its next stop. Last evening, a Kannada film trade tracker site tweeted that an October end biggie would be pushed to Deepavali. At the moment, Sapta Sagaradaache Ello is the only film slated to come at that time, so netizens put two and two together that Rakshit’s film is getting postponed. There’s been no official word from the makers, so, as of now, SSE Side B is still heading our way on October 27. But that could change, if the rumours are to be believed.
While audiences may hope for this to not be true, it may just be a better deal for the team. This Dasara, there are multiple big films releasing, which will draw crowds over the week-long holiday. After the merriment of the festival, barring the core audience that loved and watched Side A in theatres, Side B may not draw newer audiences only a week later. Also, many of the Dasara releases may retain most of the screens over the second week, so that will also be a struggle for team SSE. But a Deepavali release will mean a direct clash with Salman Khan’s Tiger 3. Well, we’ll have to wait and see if Rakshit and co change plans after all.