T'wood keen to touch 100 cr mark
The new benchmark for success in Bollywood is the Rs 100 crore mark. It has become a grade of sorts for a movie and all its stakeholders to figure in this elite stratum.
A film is no longer judged simplistically in terms of expenditure and revenue, the century milestone has started to have a lot of impact on the brand value of the stars and their future projects.
By extension, this rationale has percolated to Tollywood as well. However, considering that the size of the Tollywood market is not even half that of the Hindi market, the benchmark is realistically adjusted to Rs 50 crore in revenue. Let us have a look at some of the movies which in recent years have breached this mark.
Starting from the latest in the list, we have Pawan Kalyan starrer Attarintiki Daredi which opened to a tremendous reception at the box office and is still running to packed houses in many parts of the state.
It has already crossed Rs 50 crore in collections and Pawan Kalyan at the recent success meet of the movie said that he wouldn't be surprised if the film ended up garnering Rs 100 crore.
Then we have Prabhas starrer Mirchi, which was directed by debutant Koratala Siva. The movie emerged as the biggest hit in the career of Prabhas and firmly cemented his place as a top star.
Gabbar Singh another Pawan Kalyan flick ended the dry run of the latter at the box office and incidentally, Pawan Kalyan is the only Tollywood hero to have two movies in the Rs 50 crore club.
SS Rajamouli's Eega just about managed to breach the mark courtesy of its release in all versions. Mahesh Babu's Dookudu is another film that has raked in the moolah at the box office. The film not only stood out as the highest grosser of the year in domestic circuit but smashed all the records overseas as well.
However, Ram Charan's Magadheera is the first film in Tollywood that made an entry into the coveted club. The film that released in 2009 is still ruling the roost as the biggest grosser of Tollywood.
The other films that have ended up collecting nearly Rs 50 crores were Mahesh Babu's Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu, Ram Charan's Naayak and NTR Jr's Baadshah.
It's no wonder that the market dynamics are changing with each film and one must not forget that the budget of the films has shot up owing to the marketing trends and other promotional strategies.
The makers have cracked the code and are coming up with innovative ideas to mint money in the first two weeks of its release. The next in the offing is Rajamouli and Prabhas's Baahubali which is being made with a budget of Rs 60 crore. The film is a hot favorite and a sure shot entrant into the Rs 50 crore club.
Ask BVSN Prasad on what could be the reasons for the expansion of the T-town's market, he says, 'We attribute social networking to be a key factor. A good video goes viral within a very short period and this is an advantage to film-makers.
However, the other dynamics of the film have to fall in place. Factors like the image of the hero, script, the director and good production team will always be constant.'
While promotion is important, he feels that it is not the only factor. 'I feel promotion is just an embellishment. A good film doesn't need to have promotion. Even today, it all depends on the word of mouth publicity and the social networking platforms.'
He is also optimistic that in future Tollywood would boast of its own Rs 100 crore club. 'It's just a matter of time. We hope to see Telugu films collecting on par with Bollywood films in the coming days.
The Rs 100 crore club in Tollywood is the next big thing and I feel our films have the potential to create more mile stones in the coming days,' he concludes.
News Posted: 17 October, 2013
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