Love Mocktail, Shivarjuna to hit screens on October 15

Bengaluru: "Love Mocktail", starring Krishna and Milana Nagaraj and "Shivarjuna", starring late Chiranjeevi Sarja in lead, are two major films to hit the screens on October 15 across Karnataka, after a gap of more than six months. Cinema halls have remained closed since 24 March after imposition of lockdown in the country following outbreak of Covid-19. The romantic drama "Love Mocktail", jointly produced by Krishna and Milana Nagaraj, also features Amrutha Iyengar, Rachana Inder, Abhilash, and Kushi Achar. "Love Mocktail'', which had a good run in theatres before the lockdown, did well on streaming platforms and became one of the most-viewed films on OTT .

On the other hand "Shivarjuna", was one of the best and last movies that Chiranjeevi Sarja featured in and that was released in theatres. His performance impressed his fans and remembered during his last journey. "Shivarjuna" was released just a few days before the lockdown began and its screening had to be stopped when the theatres were shut.

Watching movies in theatres will not be the same as Covid-19 guidelines will be implemented. It means every alternate seat will be vacant to ensure physical distance of viewers and face masks will be indispensable for audience. It will be mandatory for theatres to educate audience about safety measures against the virus either through screening of one-minute film or announcement. "Only a few producers have come forward to re-release their films whose screening was stalled due to the outbreak of coronavirus. But it is a good move by the industry because as the number of coronavirus cases is high, people will be scared to go to cinema halls. This will be a good testing case to know the pulse of audience," says Kumar, a Sandalwood director.

Producers and distributors want their films to have full run on the big screen. They want people who watched "Love Mocktail" on OTT to reconnect with it in theatres again. Krishna was hoping to release "Love Mocktail 2" but could not complete the project in time.