With 35 films scheduled for release in December-January, including 10 on Christmas Eve alone, and Rs. 1 billion ($22 million) at stake, there is a mad rush to book theatres, resulting in even biggies getting limited shows.

"The cluster of so many films releasing in a short span of time will definitely result in divided prospects for each of them. It will undoubtedly limit the chances of their box office potential being fully explored," says Arun Sharma, programming director of INOX, the popular Pune multiplex.

And just look at the number of films packed in the few Fridays of December and January.

To start with, Dec 10 will see at least two major releases, "Musafir" and "Rok Sako To Rok Lo", reports Bollywood Trade. This will be followed by "Swades" and "Hum Hai Lajawab" ("The Incredibles" in English) on Dec 17.

The real anxiety in the trade, however, is about Dec 24 when at least 10 films have been scheduled for release, including "Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyon", "Dil Maange More", "Raincoat", "Abraa Ka Dabra" and five major English films.

This will be followed by five big films in January - "Bewafaa", "Kisna", "Black", "Insan" and "Tango Charlie".

"It is tricky trying to accommodate so many films. We'll be forced to exercise the option of giving limited shows to every film in the process.

"The problem will be bigger for single-screen theatres that are releasing major films like "Musafir" and "Swades" since they will not be in a position to discontinue those films abruptly to make way for the Dec 24 releases," says Neeraj Goswami of Shringar Cinemas.

It is a problem the trade faces every Christmas and Diwali. "It is time producers realised that their films deserve a better platform and sustainability, rather than just trying to release their films in a mad rush because of the Christmas week," Goswami adds.

Another problem facing exhibitors is the three hours, 12 minutes length of "Swades".

"We were earlier planning to schedule the film in two shows since it was longer than the current duration but we will now be able to schedule it in three shows. Fortunately, both "Dil Maange More" and "Raincoat" have a two-hour duration, which will make it possible for us to have additional shows for the films at 11 p.m.," Goswami adds.

The confusion among exhibitors has been compounded by the recent postponement of "Ab Tumhare..." which has now been confirmed for a Dec 24 release.

"The film's postponement had created confusion among exhibitors whether they should go ahead and book other films. Some of the distributors were also undecided about the release dates of their films, which added to the problem," says exhibitor Rajesh Thadani.

Some theatre chains are now considering the option of booking films only for a week and deciding their run after looking at the first week's response.

According to Sanjay Dalia of Cineline theatres: "We don't want to miss out any film so we have decided to watch the collections of every film in the first week and will later decide whether we want to continue the film in the same number of shows in the following week."