Laung Laachi 2 vs Bai Ji Kuttange: Two Punjabi movies will be releasing in cinema halls on this Friday.

It would be an understatement to say that the Punjabi film industry is on tenterhooks. If truth be told, the absence of a hit movie in the last three months doesn't speak highly of the entertainment industry this year.

Mind you, these three months weren't just any other months of the year. They were what is generally considered as the peak of the year for the Punjabi industry. Known for minting money in the Indian summer season, Punjabi movies haven't been able to tempt audiences towards the cinema halls since the second half of May.

Romance with and without age difference, sensitive subjects like substance abuse, return of legendary actors and period movies have all tried their luck at the box-office in this period. 18 theatrical releases across 13 weeks since the release of Amarjit Singh Saron's 'Saunkan Saunkne' have presented viewers with contrasting topics to pick and choose from but each one of them ended up having one thing in common - rejection at the box-office.

Now this isn't about whether those movies were good or not. In spite of going down as loss-making ventures, some of them were genuinely up to the mark. But people living in Punjab just not showing interest in Punjabi movies of late has put the industry in a state of nerves.

If only box-office collections in terms of actual ticket sales in India as well as overseas markets are taken into consideration (and not subsidy amounts from shooting at foreign locations), hardly a handful of Punjabi movies have been able to recover their investments in 2022, which can be counted on fingers, leave aside finger tips! While the Hindi film industry is facing a similar financial drought, someone will have to find a way to get going in the showbiz in the immediate future.

Laung Laachi 2 vs Bai Ji Kuttange

In such testing circumstances, Amberdeep Singh's 'Laung Laachi 2' and Smeep Kang's 'Bai Ji Kuttange' are releasing in cinema halls across the world on the day after tomorrow. Among the best that we have, it will be the first directorial and theatrical release of the year for both the established directors.

As far as the actors are concerned, leading names in Neeru Bajwa, Ammy Virk and Dev Kharoud will be putting on display their movies on the celluloid on August 19. Interestingly, each one of them has had at least one disastrous movie recently. Unfortunately, neither Laung Laachi 2 nor Bai Ji Kuttange appears to have build any major buzz with only a couple of nights remaining before the release day.

In what is going to be the ninth theatrical clash in the Punjabi film industry this year, I believe blaming it on clashes no longer qualifies as a solution. When movies are announced in abundance, clashes are bound to happen as makers can only delay the release of their movies for a certain time. Believe it or not, the answers lie elsewhere. For starters, lack of quality content, lack of promotions (even in this day and age, people are unaware about the release of some movies), lack of good music and the list can go on and on.

In times when any of these above mentioned names is expected to come up with individual or collective performance(s) to counter the challenge put forward by an elongated dull monetary phase, it will be interesting to see if they are able to do the same on this Friday or not.

And it's not just about these names, other ace Punjabi artists also have releases in the forthcoming weeks. Someone, somewhere in the Punjabi industry, will have to address this elephant in the room in order to witness much-needed box-office successes in the second half of 2022.