Akshay Kumar and Priyanka Chopra in a still from Waqt: See you at a later date

Books and bats have no-balled Bollywood. At least for now. The Dravid-Kumble exploits on the pitch and the Board exams have kept Hindi blockbusters at bay, as Tollywood and Hollywood fight for filmi footfall.

?March and April are bad times for the Hindi film trade, as it is, and the India-Pakistan cricket series has only compounded the problem,? says trade analyst Indu Mirani.

Among blockbusters in the waiting is Vipul Shah?s Waqt. Starring Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar and Priyanka Chopra, the release has been pushed back to April 22. ?The cricket schedule forced me to change the release date of Waqt from April 15 to April 22. I am not suffering any losses. I am just giving my film more chances at the box-office,? says Shah.

What?s bad for Bollywood, could be just right time for Tollywood. ?Bengali films have an auspicious tradition of Poila Baisakh release,? says Kaushik Ganguly, whose Shunya e Buke stars in a clutch of April 15 films.

Sandip Ray?s Nishijapon, Probhat Roy?s Manik and T.L.V. Prasad?s Dada are the other big three Bengali new year?s day releases.

Faced with a Bollywood dry run, city multiplexes have ushered in a whole lot of new English and old Bengali films.

?This is the time to get new customers, rather than push for repeat customers,? says Sumanta Roy, marketing manager, INOX. ?There are many English and Bengali films which do not get enough screen space at the multiplexes. We accommodate them during this time of the year.?

So, alongside English releases like Ray, Constantine and Shall We Dance, slightly old Bengali films like Ek Je Achhe Konya and Mondo Meyer Upakhyan are being screened.

?It?s a better option for content than the B-grade and C-grade Hindi films that are releasing now, like Classic ? Dance of Love,? adds Roy.

Back in Bollywood, the number of releases is dwindling by the week. From six major releases on one Friday in end-February to just one on March 11 (John Abraham-Priyanka Chopra?s Karam) to a no-show Friday on March 18, it doesn?t get bleaker than this.

If Waqt must wait in the wings till April 22, Harry Baweja?s Main Aisi Hi Hoon has been pushed from February to April, and Govind Menon?s Bachke Rehna Re Baba postponed by a month. Also set back is the release date of Suneel Darshan?s love triangle Mere Jeevan Saathi.

Smaller in budget and scope, films like Mukesh Bhatt?s Zeher, Sanjay Suri?s My Brother Nikhil and Deepak Tijori?s Khamosh are going ahead and battling the cricket and exam blues. ?It?s a big risk, but I guess, it?s better for them than releasing with the big films,? says Mirani.

Says Mohit Suri, director of Zeher, which releases on March 25: ?If the audiences decide to watch a particular film, they?ll do so despite all the other attractions (or distractions).?