Tollywood producers and distributors have decided to join ranks with the Bollywood brigade in the fair-rights-for-Friday-nights battle, but like most things in Bengal they will be a little delayed.

No Bengali film will release in the city’s multiplexes from April 24 if the 50-50 revenue-sharing model between the producers and plexes does not fall into place, a group of producers said on Thursday. That would mean joining their Mumbai counterparts three weeks late.

“We have given the multiplexes two weeks’ time to decide. There will be another meeting on either Friday or Saturday at the Eastern India Motion Pictures Association office, where we will take a final decision,” said Mahendra Soni of Shree Venkatesh Films after a meeting attended by prominent producers and distributors.

Tollywood distributors also expressed their displeasure with multiplexes over the slots given to Bengali films. “The plexes cannot decide which film is big and which is small. They got the five-year tax exemption saying that they would play small films that do not have scope to play elsewhere. But that is not what they do,” alleged producer-distributor Arijit Dutta, who owns Priya cinema.

Amidst the war of words, the first of the dry Fridays for Bollywood fans is here. With the showdown over revenue-sharing pitting the big boys of Bollywood against multiplex muscle power, the Calcutta audience addicted to the Khans and Khannas must make do with alternative fare this weekend and beyond.

Only the most desperate Bolly fan is expected to pad up for Pal Pal Dil Ke Ssaat, a long-stuck-in-the cans B-grade film, that releases on Friday.

But how is the Ajay Jadeja-Vinod Kambli starrer — yes, you read that right — sneaking into the multiplexes despite the Bollywood block? It is being released by the multiplex chain INOX and so the protesting United Producers and Distributors Forum has not been able to stop it.

“The film is releasing on schedule; it hasn’t been brought forward because of the ban. The fact that Kambli and Jadeja are in the film should attract crowds,” says Virendra Marya, the regional director of INOX.

The big Bollywood beneficiary this week will be Nagesh Kukunoor’s Tasveer 8x10 with each plex giving it six to eight shows despite the Akshay Kumar-starrer not bringing in the crowds.

Hollywood offers a richer bouquet this weekend with the Oscar-nominated Revolutionary Road, starring Kate Winslet-Leonardo DiCaprio, the Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There, the comic fantasy Bedtime Stories starring Adam Sandler and a Tony Jaa action flick called One Man Army taking up most of the screen space in the seven plexes around town.

If the impasse does not end in a hurry, the two beneficiaries next week could be southern superstar Kamal Haasan (who was in town on Thursday to promote the film) and Tollywood director Anjan Dutt.

Dasavathar — the Hindi version of Tamil blockbuster Dasavathaaram that rewrote box-office records with a 10-in-1 Kamal Haasan act in June 2008 — will get a bumper opening next weekend with the plexes looking to line up more than six shows each.

The film is being distributed nationwide by Shringar Films, the owners of the Fame multiplexes. “Dasavathaaram did very well when it released here last year and we are optimistic that the Hindi version will do equally well, if not better,” said a plex official.

And then there’s Anjan Dutt, with his Chowrasta — Crossroads of Love releasing on April 17. “We have invested a lot of money on the promotion and release of Chowrasta. It would have been a huge loss had we not been able to release it now,” said Dutt.

But if the stalemate continues, Dutt’s Madly Bangalee slated for a May 29 release will be stopped. As will NDTV’s debut production 033 and Shree Venkatesh Films’s Saat Pake Bandha. “The films that are already running at the plexes like Challenge will not be affected. Besides there aren’t too many commercial Bengali films that release in plexes,” said Soni.

Film-maker Sudeshna Roy, hoping for a multiplex slot for her May release Cross Connection, is keeping her fingers crossed. “Cross Connection was supposed to release in four multiplexes in Calcutta. Now we will have to find single screens in place of the four plexes.”