Cricket World Cup 2023, the on-going tournament held in India, is being marketed as the world’s biggest celebration of the sport. India is without a doubt the most passionate cricketing nation on the planet. So much that individuals like Virat Kohli and M. S. Dhoni enjoy humongous following on social media and godlike status in society. Former Indian cricketer and coach Ravi Shashtri famously said, “In India, cricket is not a sport; its life.” While there’s no ambiguity in it, the question of whether the gentleman’s game will have any impact on cinema remains unanswered. To put it straight, does cricket have any impact on cinema in India?

Yes, cricket does impact cinema, and there’ve been numerous instances of the same. GreatAndhra, a California-based entertainment website, published an article about the steep fall in footfalls of evening and night shows of films during IPL 2023. The Indian Premier League, India’s yearly cricket tournament, is exceptionally influential Cuz. after all, this franchise-cricket attracts viewership regardless of the teams locking horns with each other. On the other hand, this is certainly not the case with international tournaments like the ongoing Cricket World Cup. Does that mean multi-nation tournaments have no impact on cinema?

Well, why do you think there are no film releases on a day of, say, an India-Pakistan encounter? Or a match featuring India in a knockout stage? Well, that should’ve answered your question by now. While cricket and cinema continue to be the nation’s most consumed entertainment products, they have their own share of spectators. For instance, there’s little to no craze for cricket among women of all ages in India. So, the daily soap operas on television shouldn’t witness any drop in TRP ratings, even when there’s a high-octane cricket clash going around.

It should be noted that #CWC23 features games in 50-over format, played across a long period of nine hours, which cuts down its impact on cinema, which can be consumed in a much shorter duration. All in all, while franchise cricket does impact cinema significantly, international tournaments, particularly those of longer formats, will have little to no impact on theatre footfalls unless it’s a high-octane encounter like the India-Pakistan clash. Similarly, even cinema doesn’t impact cricket viewership much unless a much-hyped Rajinikanth starrer has just hit the screens or a blockbuster film like Jawan (2023) is having its world television premiere on Star Gold.

Ajay Bhupathi’s latest flick, Mangalavaaram (2023), starring Payal Rajput in the lead role, is reported to be heavily affected by the CWC23 final between India & Australia.