The credit for that goes to the ‘massive release’ theory taken from Bollywood. Of course, that doesn’t mean there have not been any disasters but when compared to the previous years, this year is much better. The biggest boost for Tollywood 2012 has been in the form of ‘Gabbar Singh’. This is a registered blockbuster and it is racing towards the second highest grosser with Rs 65 crores share.
The film has been declared a unanimous hit from all centers. Next in the list is ‘Businessman’ which also score a raging success. The film also introduced the concept of releasing the film in more than 1000 theatres. Arriving as a Sankranthi treat, the film rocked the box office thanks to Mahesh Babu mania and resulted with more than forty crores share. This result came irrespective of the talk on the film.
The same trend was followed by ‘Racha’ which was released in a massive way and being a commercial subject, the masses gave a thumbs up. Despite slamming by critics, the film struck a chord with the common man and it raked in a whopping Rs 45 crores share. Of course, both ‘Businessman’ and ‘Racha’ failed to impress the overseas audience and suffered losses.
Usually February is considered a dull season after the Sankranti hungama and the arrival of the summer treats. But unlike the past, even February had a rosy picture this year. There were two hits that made their mark in the form of ‘Poola Rangadu’ and ‘Ishq’. These two flicks proved that audience would come not just for star heroes but also for good subject and entertainment filled projects.
In particular, ‘Ishq’ has proved that if content is good then the film can run long and doesn’t have to bank on star power or massive release concept. Another surprising observation that came to light is, films don’t need a noted face to score a hit. This was proved by two small budget flicks in the form of ‘Ee Rojullo’ and ‘Oka Romantic Crime Katha’. Both films were made targeting the youth and scored success. This will encourage many to experiment with this genre and more films will come.
Of course, not all was happy smiles for the Tollywood folks. There were some massive duds that came in proving that if the subject and content is not good then the result also will not be good. The best example for that is the Ravi Teja- Gunasekhar venture ‘Nippu’. This is the biggest disaster of 2012. Following the suit was Balakrishna who has registered massive duds to his account. He added one more to his kitty by coming up with ‘Adhinayakudu’. There are few other flops but these two are the biggest and sizeable ones.
Same has been the case with the dubbed flicks which come in large numbers. The likes of ‘Snehitudu’ ‘3’ ‘Love Failure’ ‘Dhoni’ were given thumbs down by the audience. In the dubbed market, except for the Hollywood flick ‘Avengers’ none of the others worked. The latest release ‘Sakuni’ opened with decent collections but the talk has not been that strong so it is going a bit dull.
The consolation prize for 2012 first half goes to films like ‘Bodyguard’ ‘Dammu’ ‘Daruvu’ ‘Endukante Premanta’. All these films took off with a disaster talk but at the end, they managed to come up with some decent figures as collections. Of course, the buyers did burn their hands by taking these films but the injuries were not that serious. They just managed to get away with less losses which is a relief in a way.
The point blank flops category had its share of films. The likes of ‘Nandiswarudu’ ‘Mr Nookayya’ ‘Naa Ishtam’ ‘Nuvva Nena’ ‘Neeku Naaku Dash Dash’ were films which crashlanded before they took off and ended up as unanimous flops. Even Mahesh Babu’s ‘Bava’ Sudheer came with ‘SMS’ which had a decent talk but no one cared for it and this also joined the same list.
With 2012 first half looking encouraging, Tollywood is now looking towards the second half with optimism. There are some really promising projects lined up for release. The list includes movies like ‘Eega’ ‘Julaayi’ ‘Devudu Chesina Manushulu’ ‘Seetamma Vaakitlo Sirimalle Chettu’ ‘Damarukam’ ‘Cameraman Ganga Tho Rambabu’ ‘Rebel’ ‘Uu Kodathara Ulikki Padathara’ ‘Shadow’ ‘Autonagar Surya’ ‘Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum’ ‘Vaaradhi’ ‘Srimannarayana’ ‘Tuneega Tuneega’ and others. Let us wish that at least half of them shake the box office of Tollywood and create a sensation.
