Telugu cinema 2018 Quarter 1 box office report: Bhaagamathie, Tholiprema, Chalo come to the rescue

Editor’s note: As March has melted into April, Firstpost is bringing you an analysis of the box office performance of India’s leading film industries for the first quarter of 2018. In this report, we’re looking at how the Telugu film industry has fared. 2017 was inarguably the best year for Telugu cinema in recent memory and the success of films like Baahubali 2, Khaidi No 150, DJ, Jai Lava Kusa, Fidaa, Arjun Reddy, and later MCA ensured that the balance sheet looked quite healthy by the end of the year. With several big budget films slated for release in the first quarter of 2018, there was every reason to be jubilant about the prospect of seeing cash registers ring once again. However, the script turned out to be quite different, much to everyone’s surprise. For the first time in several years, there wasn’t a single Sankranthi release that managed to draw the audience in droves. It’s the biggest season of the year for Telugu films and the lack of patronage from the audience came as a rude shock for everyone, and it wasn’t without reason. The debacle of Pawan Kalyan, Trivikram Srinivas’ Agnyaathavasi right at the start of 2018 was a wake-up call for everyone in the industry. The cumulative loss incurred following the film’s lacklustre performance at the box-office was almost equal to the entire budget of a big-ticket film. The film was criticised for its poor script and performances, and the audience too gave up on the film following the less than favourable word of mouth right from the release day. “Although the producers didn’t lose money as they sold the film’s theatrical rights for high prices in several areas, distributors and exhibitors lost close to 30-40 percent in several areas,” says a trade analyst. For a while, rumours were rife that the producer (Radhakrishna) and the director (Trivikram Srinivas) had come forward to compensate at least some part of the loss incurred by the distributors; however, neither of them went on record to explain how much money they had to return. Meanwhile, the failure of Agnyaathavasi turned into a blessing in disguise for a couple of other films which released just days after the Pawan Kalyan-starrer. Balakrishna’s Jai Simha and Suriya, Keerthy Suresh-starrer Gang managed to salvage the situation to an extent. Sources say that Jai Simha’s theatrical rights were sold for reasonable rates and it managed to recover its costs, due to lack of stiff competition from other films. Suriya’s Gang too did reasonably well at the box-office; however, it didn’t quite surpass the revenue of his previous blockbusters. [caption id=“attachment_4418525” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Still from Anushka Shetty-starrer Bhaagamathie, which gave the Telugu film industry the much-needed fillip in 2018’s first quarter[/caption] It wasn’t until Anushka-starrer Bhaagamathie released in late January that Telugu film industry got the much-needed kickstart that it was looking for in 2018. Directed by Ashok, the horror drama turned out to be one of the biggest hits with a female lead, and it reaffirmed Anushka’s stardom in Telugu cinema as one of the very few actresses who can pull off an entire film. Bhaagamathie released simultaneously in Tamil and Malayalam, apart from the Telugu version, and it had a decent opening weekend in both these markets. In February, the market slumped further following the release of Ravi Teja’s Touch Chesi Choodu and Sai Dharam Tej, VV Vinayak’s Intelligent . Both the films were unanimously rejected at the box-office and they didn’t even manage to hold fort till the weekend. Perhaps, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that their fate was sealed right on the first day of their release. Amidst all this, Naga Shaurya, Rashmika-starrer Chalo turned out to be a surprise hit. The romantic comedy, which explored the rivalry between two villages, turned out to be the biggest hit in Naga Shaurya’s career and it gave him the much needed break after a slew of failures in recent years. If Baaghamathie came to Tollywood’s rescue in January, Varun Tej and Raashi Khanna’s Tholiprema did the honours in February. Directed by Venky Atluri, the film was praised for its performances from the lead cast, soulful music by Thaman, and cinematography by George C Williams, and Venky Atluri too became the talk of the town. After the phenomenal success of Fidaa last year, Varun Tej continued his dream run at the box-office with Tholiprema and it went on to be a critical and commercial success. Also read — Kollywood 2018 Quarter 1 box office report: Padmaavat, Black Panther save day as Tamil films flounder Another film which grabbed a lot of attention was Prasanth Varma’s Awe! which had a huge ensemble cast including Kajal, Nithya Menen, Eesha, Srinivas Avasarala, Regina Cassandra, Murali Sharma, apart from Nani and Ravi Teja, who gave a voice over for a fish and a bonsai tree respectively. With Nani himself producing the film, there was plenty of buzz surrounding the film and its theme. Despite mixed reaction from the critics, the film exceeded expectations at the box-office and it managed to recover its investment, thanks to low cost of production and theatrical rights. The film, however, did lead to a lot of debates about the content and ideas which Prasanth wanted to drive home and gave hope to the notion that Telugu cinema is ready for newer styles of filmmaking and expression of ideas. A week after Awe! released, Telugu film industry took a drastic step to stop new releases after talks with digital service providers, like QUBE and UFO, failed. The producers had been urging the DSPs to reduce the VPF (Virtual Print Fee), apart from trying to address several other issues; however, it took more than a week before both the parties called for a truce which paved way for new releases in the second week of March. Vijay Devarakonda’s long delayed film Ye Mantram Vesave finally released in theatres and it was criticised for its amateurish plot and direction. Nikhil, Samyukta and Simran-starrer Kiraak Party , a remake of a blockbuster Kannada film Kirik Party, released shortly after the strike was called off. The cast and crew promoted the film in several colleges across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and it opened well at the box-office; however, it fell well short of replicating the success of the Kannada version in Telugu. A week later, Kalyanram, Kajal’s MLA arrived in theatres, but it couldn’t carry forward the momentum beyond its opening weekend. Towards the end of March, the Telugu film industry found its first blockbuster of the year in Ram Charan, Samantha-starrer Rangasthalam, which released on 30 March. Directed by Sukumar, the film is expected to become the highest grossing Telugu film after Baahubali: The Beginning and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion. The film has already crossed the Rs 100 crore gross milestone at the box-office and it’s showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. To put it in perspective, the Telugu film industry couldn’t replicate the success of 2017 in the first quarter of 2018, and if it wasn’t for the success of films like Bhaagamathie, Tholiprema, Chalo and couple of other films, there was every reason to hit the panic button following the debacle of Agnyaathavasi. However, with films like Krishnarjuna Yuddham, Chal Mohan Ranga, Bharath Ane Nenu, and Naa Peru Surya slated for release in the next few weeks, Telugu cinema audiences have a lot to look forward to this summer.