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Quick returns: `Stalin' steals the show

The number of days a film is screened is no longer the yardstick to measure success, writes B. MADHU GOPAL

PHOTO: K.R. DEEPAK

`MEGA ATTRACTION' Crowds in a jubilant mood outside a theatre screening `Stalin' Photo: K.R. Deepak

Hundred days... 175 days... 200 days... the number of days is no more a yardstick to gauge the success of a Telugu film. Now, `fast buck' is the buzzword in the Telugu film industry. Producers and distributors are keen on collections in the first few days and least bothered on the long run.

Over Rs.13 crores in the first week. It may sound strange in Tollywood. But, it is a fact. Released in 700 theatres with 400 prints, the Chiranjeevi-starrer `Stalin' has created a south-India record.

Though the Rajnikant-starrer `Chandramuki' is said to have raked in more earnings, the returns were spread over several weeks.

"Stalin was released in 48 theatres with 36 prints in north Andhra. It has crossed the highest earnings for any Telugu film in the first week so far," says Nagesh of Sri Kanthi Pictures, distributors for north Andhra, which comprises Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts.

Stalin is said to be enjoying stupendous success in Chennai and Bangalore apart from drawing good crowds in the US and UK.

Yardstick

The success of a film is measured on the collections in A, B and C centres put together. The A centres are municipal corporations like Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad, B centres are big towns and C centres are rural areas.

A Chiru film earns good returns from all three centres. If the film is a hit, it would get good collections for 100 days or more and even if it is `average' or flops at the box office, it still continues to draw good crowds for at least three weeks in A centres and double that run in B and C centres, where the ticket rates are comparatively less.

"On the contrary, the collections of films of Venkatesh and Nagarjuna drop drastically from the second day itself, if the film turns out to be a flop," according to a film critique.

"After Chiru, Balakrishna, Mahesh Babu, Pavan Kalyan and Jr. NTR and to a lesser extent Ravi Teja have some mass following and perform comparatively better even in the event of failure of their films. The margins of Chiru films are also dropping since the last one year", says L. Satyanand, who has trained many top stars.

"Low budget films with a good storyline can produce good results. There is no need to go abroad for shooting song sequences. The amount being spent on big-budget films can be utilised to make three or four low budget movies", feels lyricist Jaladhi.

He recalls: "In the good old days films with simple themes, a good story, comedy, good songs used to draw repeat audiences and turned out to be big hits. Almost all those films were shot within the country and mostly in the rural areas. Though `srungara rasa' (sex) was portrayed in old films also, it was shown in a subtle manner unlike the present day films which border on vulgarity," he says.

Noted director and Union Minister Dasari Narayana Rao had suggested in the past that the Telugu film industry should go in for some introspection. While very few films are turning out to be blockbusters, the rest were faring badly. On the contrary films dubbed from other languages were doing well. He had expressed his reservations about big budget films, growing remunerations of successful stars and high rentals by exhibitors. He felt that the industry should be prepared for sacrifices to tide over the crisis in the industry.

Meanwhile, four more films, involving a business of over Rs.100 crores, are slated for release during the next three months. These are Pavan Kalyan's `Annavaram', Mahesh Babu' s `Sainikudu', Balakrishna's film, which is yet to be named, and Jr. NTR's `Rakhi'.

It remains to be seen as to how they would fare at the box office.

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