CHENNAI: Last Friday, 'Teen Maar', a Telugu film starring Pawan Kalyan and Trisha, was released in nine theatres across Chennai. The film ran to packed houses for three days and set the box-office ringing. Though Telugu films are not new in Chennai, until a few months ago, most of them were dubbed in Tamil before release. But now, the city has been witnessing a rise in the release of non-dubbed Telugu films.
Other than just the large number of Telugu-speaking people, the availability of screens is also said to be one of the reasons for this new trend. S Sridhar, joint-secretary, Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners’ Association, says, “This year, around 10-15 Telugu films have released and the business was average. Telugu films run for a week or two and there are multiplexes that have more screens for these films.”
K Jayakumar, GM, Sangam Cinemas (where 'Teen Maar' is running) says weekends are the prime collection time. “As no Tamil films released last week, we saw a huge crowd for 'Teen Maar'. In fact, Jr NTR’s high-budget flick, 'Shakthi', didn’t do well. So we replaced it with 'Teen Maar'. Three years ago, the number of theatres that screened Telugu films were less. So a film used to run for more than five weeks. But now with more screens available, we can run them only for two or three weeks.”
Jayakumar adds that the success of a film also depends upon the stars. Ravi Teja is undoubtedly a favourite here and some of his films like 'Don Seenu', 'Kick' and 'Shambo Shiva Shambo' (remake of 'Nadodigal') ran longer than other films. “Actor Nagarjuna, Mahesh Babu and Venkatesh really do well here,” says Jayakumar.
Bharathi Films’ VS Narayanan, who released 'Teen Maar' in 24 theatres in Tamil Nadu, says, “Our main target is Telugu-speaking people. I took the responsibility of distributing the film as the film’s success was a minimum guarantee. Since, there are more theatres willing to run a Telugu film, I decided it was the right time.”
Case in point is 'Teen Maar' which is still running in theatres and Sathyam Cinemas alone runs six shows.
A source from another popular multiplex in the city says the occupancy rate for Telugu films is usually between 75 and 85 per cent. It also depends upon the stars. However, a well-known exhibitor doesn’t agree. “The content matters more than the stars. The movie 'Happy Days' had no big stars and was one of the biggest blockbusters in Tollywood and also ran really well in Chennai. 'Happy Days' gathered Rs 10 lakh and more for distributors,” he says.
Telugu films easily draw a crowd of 50,000 people from the city alone – that’s 35 per cent of all Telugu-speaking crowd in the state. “With such a population, if the movie is really good it would definitely run for three to four weeks,” he adds. “Movies like 'Brindavanam', 'Jalsa' and Ravi Teja’s 'Mirapakaya' did well. But the much-hyped 'Shakthi' failed to draw audiences. The tickets for the premiere show of Shakthi, the day before the release, were almost sold out. We sold almost 950 tickets on that day alone. But after that, it went downhill.”
Here’s a round up of what the fans have to say…
“Thanks to a number of multiplexes in the city, we now have an opportunity to catch our favourite Telugu stars on the big screen, especially on the same day the movie is released in Andhra Pradesh. My favourite actor is Naga Chaitanya,” says R Kalpana Raju, who never misses a Telugu film.
“Other than Woodlands and Satyam, Casino is one of the few theatres that regularly screens Telugu films.” S Muralikanth, a graphic designer cum freelance photographer, says he watches Telugu films with his relatives. “I am a big fan of Mahesh Babu and I never miss his films. Though it has been a few months since I watched a Telugu film, I’m looking forward to watching one this weekend.”
When producer VTV Ganesh along with actor Simbhu watched Allu Arjun’s 'Vedam' at the Casino Theatre, they immediately decided to remake the film in Tamil as 'Vaanam'. “We always go to watch Allu Arjun’s films together. 'Vedam' was very rich in content and we knew immediately that it would be a good remake,” says Ganesh.
Though a Tamilian, N Muthukumar loves to watch Telugu films along with his friends. “I feel both the Tamil and Telugu films are similar in content. Just like Tamil films, Telugu films too open with a song by the hero. A lot of Telugu remakes have done well here,” says Muthukumar.
Though not a fan of any particular actor, “I enjoy watching Nagarjuna and Ram Charan Teja’s films. I’m waiting to watch Ram Charan in 'Maaveeran' (remake of the superhit, 'Magadheera').”