The Rs.50crore and Rs.100crore clubs are yardsticks of box office success in the domestic market for Telugu films. In recent years, these films have also worked their way into $1 million and $2 million clubs in the US. A popular notion in the industry is that an actor or director with a couple of $1million films to his/her credit can consider themselves to have arrived in the big league.
The US market was once notorious for piracy as NRIs who weren’t able to watch Telugu films in theatres in their city would download pirated copies. With the growing demand, Telugu films have found their way into more cinema halls.
“This is the best phase we’ve seen so far. Our films were earlier relegated to small screens, now the big theatres that screen English films are also screening Telugu films,” says director Nandini Reddy.
Srimanthudu, Nannaku Prematho, Manam, Attarintiki Daredi, Bhale Bhale Magadivoy,Race Gurram,Sarrainodu and A…Aa are among the recent films that breached $1 million. The Telugu, Tamil and Hindi versions of Baahubali collectively earned more than 7$ million.
Producer D. Suresh Babu predicts the numbers growing each year. He foresees more films doing $3-4 million business and eventually $5-10 million.
He attributes this to more young NRIs staying true to their roots as opposed to becoming ‘Americanised’, which was the case earlier. “The Silicon Valley or New Jersey today is like an extension of Kukatpally. The new brigade of NRIs likes to watch IPL, Indian films and celebrates Indian food. It’s a continuation of their lifestyle here, with a sophisticated touch,” Suresh Babu points out. “An advantage in the US is ticket rates can be hiked for big films for preview shows and the opening weekend,” he adds.
The revenue from the US is pegged at 5 to 10 per cent of overall collections.
If big players eye $1 and 2 million marks, small players also benefit. Nandini Reddy sights a case with her film, Kalyana Vaibhogame , produced with a budget of Rs. 3 crore. Distributed by Hema Prasad and Swathi Mudhusani of Pushkala Entertainments, the film earned nearly $3,00,000. “This is a big cheer for a small film. Distributors look for films with good content to draw the family audience. Reviews and social media buzz add to the word of mouth publicity,” she says.
Madhu Garlapati of Cine Galaxy group that distributed Manam, Bhale Bhale Magadivoi (BBM), Nannaku Premato, 24, Theri and now Kabali, says films starring Mahesh, Pawan Kalyan, NTR, Allu Arjun and Nani have good potential. Among directors, Rajamouli, Trivikram Srinivas, Sukumar, Vikram Kumar and Sekhar Kammula promise strong openings. Risk taking has also worked in the favour of a few films. Madhu cites the case of BBM .
“A film like that is usually released in 30 to 40 screens. We felt it would appeal to a larger audience and went for a bigger release, which helped it reach $1.5million. We followed a similar strategy with Nannaku Premato which crossed $2million; Theri did $1.2 million and 24 earned nearly $1.45million. These numbers are humungous compared to earlier Tamil films,” explains Madhu.
Unlike revenue figures from the domestic segment that are to be taken with a pinch of salt, the box office numbers in the US are transparent, say filmmakers and distributors.
Ravi Kiran, director of Gaatri Media Group which released Gentleman in the US, picks Texas, California and New Jersey are major revenue territories for Telugu films, apart from cities like Seattle, Atlanta and Minneapolis. “Telugu movies can open in 38-40 states in the USA today. Tamil cinema has always had a strong overseas market and new benchmarks are created with each Rajinikanth film. For Telugu, we’ve noticed that happening with Rajamouli and Mahesh’s films,” says Ravi.
With a couple of hits under the belt, an actor or a director stands to gain as their next film gets more screens. After BBM did brisk business, there was better potential for Nani’s next films Krishna Gaadi Veera Prema Gaadha and Gentleman . The revenue from the US market is pegged at around $9,00,000 for Gentleman . In its fourth week, the film is running in a few screens and Gaatri Media Group states it’s unlikely to breach the $1million mark.
The film’s producer Krishna Prasad Sivalenka is happy with the film’s performance and says, “Earlier, NRIs were watching Telugu films online or on cable, but now they’ve made it a part of their weekend plan. If a film is good, they don’t mind driving long distance to watch it. The overseas market is now an important distribution area.”
Ads in websites apart, promotional strategies are designed for the market. For instance, when KVPG released, the three-year-old NRI child actor Naina was a fixture in posters and a campaign also enabled viewers to watch the film with her.
Corrections & Clarifications:
This article has been edited for factual errors.
