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Its that time of the year to pause and ponder over what the
Telugu film industry has offered us so far in the past six
months. In this show business, Fridays are termed fatal, for
each Friday witnesses the release of new films and the fate
of the makers and distributors of these films hangs very loosely
waiting for the verdict of the audience on those films. But
the audience are so tired of seeing the same old formula based
movies that even they have started looking for Fridays with
a sanguine hope. A hope that they might come across a movie
that has the guts to show them what they haven't seen and
enjoyed in a long time; a hope that they might be entertained
like never before without any strings attached; a hope that
they may be offered something different than the routine staple
diet - college themes, faction stories or Ravi Teja movies.
(We'll elaborate more on the latter little later. So keep
reading)
While
novelty, variety have as usual taken a back seat this year
too, most of the hit films this year initially started off
with an average talk but ended up being hits and super hits.
Did the audience give up that 'hope' we were talking about,
reverting to the movies they have initially declined? Well,
if the Idiot box has the same old sentiment sagas to offer,
and most of the films releasing every week are the nth makes
and remakes of the same old college/youth dramas, then whatever
little variety a movie has offered, the audience went back
to them, having dismissed them initially, convincing themselves
that - may be it was not all the bad? No wonder they say -
tinaga tinaga vemu teeyagundu!
This
year, so far, has witnessed the releases of 44 straight films
and a few dubbed movies. The number might seem a little less
compared to last year, but that's mainly because of the cricket
fever that engulfed the whole of India for about two months.
While the performance of most of the films at box office has
been disappointing, the following eight films have contributed
their share of entertaining the audience in considerable yet
varied proportions. (Note: We shall be talking only about
those movies that had their releases on or before June 30
2003. Recent releases like Simhadri
and Vasantham
are declared as big hits but their discussion has been excluded
from this report.)
1.
Okkadu - Sensational Hit (review)
 MS
Raju - the producer with guts spent 14 crores with a lot
of faith on just two people - Mahesh Babu and Guna Sekhar
- whose earlier films (Bobby
and Mrigaraju)
were total disasters. His trust on the capabilities of his
hero and director paid off in a very handsome manner. Okkadu
became a resounding hit all over by collecting a share that
is anywhere between 25 crore and 30 crore rupees. Mahesh Babu's
histrionics, his fan following, Mani Sharma's mellifluous
music coupled with Guna Sekhar's terrific screenplay and taking
has taken this film's success to new heights. This film ran
for 100 days in 100 centers. Producer MS Raju exhibited his
hospitality by organizing a 100
days function on Superstar Krishna's birthday in Vijayawada
in a grand way.
2. Gangotri - Super Hit
(review)
 This
film had everything in its stride prior to its release. It
was the 100th film of the most successful commercial Telugu
film director K Raghavendra Rao. It was the launch pad of
Allu Arjun (Allu Arvind's son) and Aditi Agarwal (Arti Agarwal's
sis). But after its release it started off with a flop talk.
However, the charisma of K Raghavendra Rao's directorial capabilities
added with Keeravani's melodious music drew family crowds
to the theaters. The producer duo Aswini
Dutt and Allu Arvind promoted this film in a right way
and the result - Gangotri celebrated 100 days in 52 centers.
The producers are organizing the 100 days function in a grand
way on 18th of July with Chiranjeevi and Chandra Babu Naidu
as chief guests.
3.
Amma Nanna O Tamil Ammai - Super Hit (review)
 Puri
Jagan and Ravi Teja gave us a splendid hit 'Idiot'
last year. The movie was such a big hit that it not only gave
them a star status in the industry but also the made the audience
visualize Ravi Teja as the arrogant, adamant angry young man
of Telugu Cinema. Though Ravi Teja's character in ANOTA had
all of that in abundance (in the true sense of the word),
the audience could not take that 'abundance' in the first
week. But the release of disastrous Johnny in the following
week helped this film hog the limelight again. A weak Johnny
made arrogant Ravi Teja stronger in registering good collections
for ANOTA. A novel title also became an added advantage to
this film. Chakri's music, though nothing great, helped this
film to become a musical entertainer too.
4.
Dil - Super Hit
(review)
 Nitin,
who made a splash in the industry as the chocolate boy of
Telugu cinema, silenced his critics who dismissed Jayam's
success as a flash in the pan, with the success of this film.
Prakash Raj's wonderful performance in a role that was as
meatier as that of hero's role, the aggressive promotion by
producers Raju and Giri, VV Vinayak's ability to titillate
the masses and classes, helped this movie become a super hit.
The producers are planning to celebrate the 100 days in style
at the end of July.
5.
Pellam Voorelithe - Super Hit (review)
 Aswini
Dutt named this banner on his daughter as Siri Media Arts
and produced Pellam Voorelithe with Srikanth, Venu, Sunil,
Sangeeta and Rakshita in main leads. This remake of Tamil
film Charlie Chaplin has given a breather to director SV Krishna
Reddy who was suffering with continuous flops. For the first
time in the career of SV Krishna Reddy, some other music director
scored music. Mani Sharma, that is! This film earned the tag
of a good entertainer. The producers arranged 100
days of this function in Rock Gardens recently.
6. Kabaddi Kabaddi - Hit
(review)
 Valluripally
Ramesh Babu who produced 'Avunu
Valliddaru Ista Paddaru' on Anandi Arts banner last year
produced Kabaddi Kabaddi with Venky as director. Venky - who
thoroughly followed Vamsy's style - incorporated all the elements
to make this one a hit film. With the success of this film,
Venky has become a sought after director with his diary filled
till the end of the next year. Jagapati Babu and Kalyani continued
their winning streak with this film.
7. Aithe - Hit (review)
 With
an apt caption like 'Anni Cinemalu Okela Vundavu',
this film really proved that all films are not alike. Gangaraju
Gunnam - the creative brain who directed critically acclaimed
Little Soldiers in the past - produced this film by introducing
Chandra
Sekhar Yeleti as the director. Released with a very few
prints, this film not only became a commercial success but
also proved that the audience are always willing to encourage
good films. With the success of 'Aithe', director Chandu has
some enviable projects from the likes of Ram Gopal Varma and
Krishna
Vamsi in his kitty.
8.
Ninne Istapaddanu - Hit (review)
 Durga
Arts is considered as one of the lucky banners in Telugu film
industry. And it turned lucky again with the film 'Ninne Istapaddanu'.
Tarun broke his one hit - one flop jinx with this film by
delivering two successive successful films in the form of
Nuvve Nuvve
and Ninne Istapaddanu.
3
bloopers - crazy combinations and craziest results
Hits
are a few but flops are so high in number that they make you
go phew. So we have decided to talk about only three flops
that were released with much hype, which unfortunately could
not live up to the hype.
Johnny - nightmarish box officer disaster (review)
 They
say that too much of anything is not good. There are so many
things that were hyped about this film without producer or
hero saying a word about the film. Made on a budget of 12
crores and sold for an amount of 24 crores, this film went
on to become one of the all time nightmarish box officer disasters.
The buyers who bought this film lost to the tune of 70-80%.
Though the producer returned some amount to the distributors,
some of the exhibitors did not receive any paybacks. With
Johnny's dismal failure, the industry learnt a lesson that
its always the content that matters, but not the stars alone.
The stars can only increase the range of the film if the content
is good but stars alone cannot be safe bets. Even Pawan Kalyan
- who was touted as the most popular hero in the past two
years - could not save this film's fate. In fact he has taken
the whole responsibility of the film's result, as he was the
captain of this ship, which sank like the Titanic.
Palanati
Brahma Naidu - Balayya's prestige sabotaged by the producer
(review)
 Palanati
Brahma Naidu started on a negative note on the morning of
5th June (a day before its release) with the financiers stopping
the release of prints as the producer owed them about 9 crores.
The movie later became a box office disappointment. This film
is another example of how people tend to invest money in films
by blindly believing in the combination. With this movie,
the highly successful combination of B Gopal and Balayya encountered
their first failure and a colossal one at that.
Nijam
- a technical hit, but ………….. (review)
 The
Teja - Mahesh combination film 'Nijam' was released with a
huge craze. The initial talk was disappointing. But it managed
good openings. However the film ran out of the steam as it
approached 50 days. The 'returnable advances' scheme by Teja
turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the distributors
and the exhibitors, as they had nothing to lose. The producer
Teja says that it's a hit technically, as he got his money
back. But what about the 'value for money' a common man expects
from Teja's movies, especially when Teja has always promised
paisa vasool entertainment? Is that a 'Nijam - it's a lie'
too?
Trends:
Big
banners are not so big in guaranteeing success:
Big banners are not reliable production houses any more. Some
of the most prestigious banners like Sri Surya Movies (Naaga
& Run),
Suresh Productions (Vijayam
& Hari
Villu), Geeta Arts (Johnny),
Usha Kiron Movies (Oka
Raju Oka Rani) did not do well at the Box office.
4
Muhurats and 1 release
Every week there are around 4 news films starting. But there
is only one film that is releasing, which means that three
out of every four films is getting stuck at the labs.
Platinum
disc functions for flop films
How to get media attention and get featured in newspapers
and TV channels? The simplest and most inexpensive way is
to organize disc functions in the theaters where is film is
playing. You would get free publicity.
Dubbed
films are a big no no
The factor of nativity is very strong in the minds of the
Telugu viewers these days. They are not accepting dubbing
films any more. Good dubbed films like Sathyame
Sivam and Run
had to bite the dust because they lacked nativity.
Prakash Raj - a must in Telugu films now
Out of the 8 successful films this year, four films have featured
Prakash Raj in very important roles. Its very difficult to
imagine a Telugu film without Prakash Raj these days. He has
become a vital part of Telugu film industry now.
The
3 kings of music
Mani Sharma, RP Patnaik and Chakri are the most sought after
music directors in Telugu film industry now. Of the 8 hit
films, they have scored music for two films each (Mani Sharma
- Okkadu, Pellam Voorelithe; Chakri - ANOTA, Kabaddi Kabaddi,
RP - Dil, Ninne Istapaddanu).
Popular
Heroines
Bhoomika and Kalyani have become very popular with successes
of Okkadu and Kabaddi Kabaddi. Last year's heroine of the
year, Arti Agarwal, had only one release so far this year
(Palnati Brahma Naidu) which did nothing to increase her popularity.
With such few releases, is she giving way to her sis Aditi?
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