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Bogged down
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While success remains elusive, hype and frenzy dominates Telugu films
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Great expectations Hype mars many a movie
Narasimhudu's producer C. Venkat Rao's suicide attempt brings into focus many issues that overwhelm the industry. Exceeding the budget limit is something our film-makers are unable to avoid. From remuneration to the stars to expenses on foreign trips, the `damages' seem to be skyrocketing. But the directors beg to differ. Director of Soggadu, Ravi Babu argues, "The cost of making the film (Soggadu) was 2 crores 60 lakhs. You forget there are other departments in filmmaking like printing, distribution etc and there are many other reasons that make a film expensive. Before I commence the shooting, I make meticulous planning. We calculated for a 75-day shoot but we had shot 30 per cent extra. But all these were conscious decisions and things were in control. A producer should work out the statistics and success rate of the film. You should strike an average somewhere."
Every week we are told how movies did at the box office over the past week or weekend. Surely that's not all gross profit to the studio producers, because it is shared by the theatre owner , the distributors and some amount is spent on promotion of the film. In the process the producer might forget to pay the hero his fee. Recently there were rumours doing the rounds that the producer of Raviteja's film had to mortgages his wife's jewellery to pay him. But Raviteja denied when we sought a clarification from him. "These charges are totally false and baseless. I share a wonderful relationship with my producer and by nature I'm not that kind of person at all. I feel it is my responsibility too to see the film comes out without any hassles. Bhadra's release was a smooth affair.What happened to the producer of Narsimhudu was unfortunate. A producer should plan well in advance and be in control. All this throws light on his passion and involvement in filmmaking."
It is sad to see egos deflate so publicly every Friday. And nobody can take failure - especially when a few days earlier, they get splashed all over the media and on top of the world. A few weeks before the release of a film, the media feeds the public's curiosity. The people involved with the film are sucked into the whirlpool of hype, which they may not even have wanted in the first place. So they have to give endless interviews and are forced to say things about the film whether they are convinced or not
Only the strongest film can survive this kind of hype. The rest are just sucked under like the producer of Narsimhudu. Hope the industry wakes up to its maladies and finds a lasting solution, for the sake of good cinema.
Y. SUNITA CHOWDHARY
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