Legend raises industry's expectations

Around 27 movies have released in Tollywood in 2014, barring dubbing films and sad to say, except for one or two films, none of them have managed to set the cash registers ringing at the ticket window.

Ram Charan's Yevadu and Puri Jagannath's Heart Attack are the only self-proclaimed hits of the year so far. Even this is disputable! The other big releases of the season, Mahesh Babu's 1-Nenokkadine and Nani starrer, Paisa failed to impress the Telugu audiences.

Pandavulu Pandavulu Thummedha, starring the entire Manchu clan on screen for the first time was declared a hit by the makers, but the budget of the movie was said to have exceeded its market value by far.

Traditionally, the film industry operates on a success ratio which is in single digits. But even judging by this dismal parameter, the performance of the movies released so far is indeed alarming.

Normally, the failure of a movie is attributed to its concept, but the problem currently is that there are no audiences for a movie to even judge it. As one producer in Tollywood, Sivaji puts it, 'A film can be judged for its content only when the audiences come to the theaters. But there are hardly any openings for the movies.'

So, does the problem lie in promotion? 'Maybe for some small films! But we have had cases where even films with a good star cast opened to a bleak reception,' says Sivaji.

A combination of factors is responsible for the lackadaisical response from the public. Families have long ago abandoned frequenting the theaters and it is only the youth which is the primary source of revenues to movies. But with the examinations' season on currently, coupled with the ongoing T20 cricket world cup, youth are staying away from the theatres.

Another major reason is that elections in the state are just round the corner, and post the bifurcation decision the news channels are providing 24/7 entertainment on the pretext of dishing out political news.

Against this backdrop, Balakrishna's Legend which is releasing on March 28 has the potential to lure the audiences back to the theatres and end the drought of Tollywood. The movie is expected to be a hard-hitting action drama with a take on contemporary politics.

The trailer of the movie along with the fact that Balayya and director Boyapati Srinu are coming together again after Simha has given unprecedented hype to the project.

Jagapathi Babu's attire in the movie has also pleased fans immensely. Following Legend, Ram Gopal Varma's Rowdy and Allu Arjun's Race Gurram are scheduled for release on April 4 and April 11 respectively.

It goes without saying that if Legend is a success, then it will have a cascading effect on the other two movies as well. In short, the industry is looking to Legend now, to bring the masses back to the theaters. All eyes are on Balayya now! Will he end Tollywood's drought at the box-office?