Recent hits revive Tollywood theatrical fortunes

Recent hits revive Tollywood theatrical fortunes. Tollywood till sometime back witnessed a dry period and slum with many films bombing at the box office. However the recent hits has revived its theatrical fortunes.

9 films like Suriya’s Veerabhadrudu and Vishwanath & Sons, Ram Charan’s Peddi, Samantha’s Maa Inti Bangaram, Akhil Akkineni’s Lenin, Kiran Abbavaram’s Chennai Love Story, Varun Tej’s Korean Kanakaraju, DC starring Lokesh Kanagaraj, and Ravi Teja’s Irumudi turned out to be hits and now this increased expectations over the next releases in the coming months.

Producer Supriya Yarlagadda says . “Rooted stories and affordable tickets have propelled the recent return to theatres. It would be fantastic if theatres could offer affordable popcorn as well, to boost this further.”

Sobhu Yarlagadda adds “It proves that a movie that connects with the audience has an audience in theatres. The onus is on us as an industry to make films that audiences love and appreciate. Irumudi being the latest example!”

Dil Raju says “All these successes contain strong, family-driven content. Give the audience a reason to come, and they will go to movie theatres.”

Allu Aravind shares “The OTT craze that peaked around 2021 is clearly settling down, and many of the projections made at that time about its extraordinary growth have proved to be overstated. Audiences are rediscovering the excitement of watching films collectively in a theatre. This is particularly evident with successful large-scale films — not necessarily with big stars, but films presented as a genuine big-screen experience and also irresistible content.”

However, Ram Gopal Varma is cautious saying “It is all a phase. So many family films in recent times have flopped, including The Family Star, Thammudu, and Guntur Kaaram. Samantha’s film is a hit. That doesn’t mean every heroine fighting in a saree will work. I think the key is novelty in the story. Repetition is death.”

- Pramod Nandivada