It is well known that cinema is a multi-crore affair. Big movies in Tollywood are being produced with a budget of around Rs 50 to 80 crore. Producers, however, turn to financiers for such an investment. Most of the film financiers are from the Ceded area- the present four Rayalaseema districts.
Anyone from the current star producers to medium range producers in Tollywood should go ceded for finance if they can come up with a star combination. Some large construction companies also take out bank loans to some extent. However, a lot of film finance or political finance should not be taken.
In this context, trade experts say that 90 per cent of the money for Telugu films comes from the ceded area. After the film is sold out, producers return the money to them.
However, Vijayawada was once a haven for film finance. Everything has now shifted to ceded. It seems that all the big budget projects currently running are financed from ceded. All the film activities stopped due to the Corona epidemic. Some small works started but not in a position to be released in movie theaters. Producers who got finance with this are stuck in a debt trap.
Usually, there are finance settlements that are settled before the films are released or after they are completed. But now that the movies have not been released, the investments are stuck everywhere. With this, some producers are releasing their films in OTTs and paying the finances. But big film producers are not able to release their films in OTTs. We need to understand this dire situation and see if the ceded financiers will waive the interest for at least two to three months.