The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Telugu films cry for space

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 03, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Telugu films cry for space

K.V.S. Madhav

Scramble for cinemas and screen slots as dubbed films make inroads

SPREADING THE WEB: A `Spiderman 3' poster displayed at the I-MAX. The new action film `Spiderman 3' opens on Friday in Hyderabad. — PHOTO: Satish. H.

HYDERABAD: Lack of cinemas is hampering the release of several new films. With a packed schedule, summer is the big time for a golden harvest in the celluloid world.

There is a mad scramble for cinemas and screen slots in multiplexes even as films made in Telugu have competition from dubbed ones. No, it is not just Tamil-dubbed films but the latest craze — English films dubbed into `mana' Telugu — that are giving the Telugu films a run for their money!

With Spiderman ready to cast his web and spell again, its Telugu and even Hindi versions are ready to hit the marquee this week in the already crowded cinema space.

This week itself saw Venkatesh's `Aadavari Maatalaku Ardhaleverule' being released in 34 movie theatres in Hyderabad alone while `Munna' hit another 36 cinemas! Srihari's Malayalam remake, `Sri Mahalakshmi', in 12 cinemas and Spiderman - III in three languages in as many as 20 cinemas, including 13 screening the Hindi and Telugu versions will also be released this week. Actor Mohan Babu is also planning to release his son Manoj's film `Rajubhai' on May 4 on the eve of the birthday of his mentor Dasari Narayana Rao.

All this in a gap of two to three days!

Summer rush

This is just the beginning of the summer rush. Siddharth's `Aata' and Raviteja's `Dubai Seenu' will be released back-to-back in the next two weeks besides several dubbed films from Tamil and English, Rajnikanth's `Sivaji' in the direction of Shankar being the major one that could take away a majority of movie theatres apart from Vikram's `Bheema'.

"After the stupendous success of Spiderman II, we are releasing the third edition with 120 prints to ensure it reaches out across the State," said B. Subrahmanyam of Lakshmi Ganapathi Films, known for its English dubbed films.

Recent releases

English films dubbed into Telugu attract large numbers in big and small towns - B and C centres in cinema parlance and the recent releases such as `300', `Snakes on a plane' or `Casino Royale', the latest offering from the James Bond stable, all minted money, apart from taking away the screen space for Telugu films, particularly the low and medium budget films.

"That leaves us nowhere," filmmaker E.V.V. Satyanarayana, whose `Attili Sattibabu' is into its fourth week run, said.

`Increases tax'

No wonder, jittery Telugu film producers approached Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy requesting him to increase the entertainment tax on dubbed films, particularly English ones. They wanted the Government to increase the entertainment tax on dubbed films to 50 per cent from 20 per cent and make it on a par with Tamil Nadu.

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