The Telugu film industry is fortunate to be one of the first to witness an early revival. It was the first major industry to see a reopening of cinema theatres as well as the first to see cinema halls operating at full capacity. However, a strange observation has been made this time for Diwali, where Non-Telugu films are dominating the Tollywood box office. Although the Telugu film ‘Manchi Rojulochaie’ is the single Diwali release, the buzz surrounding it is nothing compared to Akshay Kumar’s ‘Sooryavanshi’ and the Telugu versions of Tamil films, Rajinikanth starrer ‘Annaatthe’ (titled ‘Peddanna’) and the Arya-Vishal starrer ‘Enemy’.
Quite strangely, the immediate next week post Diwali has three Telugu films clashing at the box office, they being Anand Deverakonda‘s ‘Pushpaka Vimanam‘, Kartikeya’s ‘Raja Vikramarka‘ and the Naga Shourya-Ketika Sharma starrer ‘Lakshya‘. The major shocker however, is the fact that many big-ticket films are crowding around the Pongal/Sankranti period, while none made use of the biggest festive season of Diwali. Even the festivals of Ganesh Chaturthi and Dussehra saw some big films clashing and yet others postponing their release dates, so why were there no takers for Diwali?
The Pongal/Sankranti period is flooded with star-studded releases including the magnum opus ‘RRR’, ‘Bheemla Nayak‘, ‘Radhe Shyam’ and ‘Sarkaru Vaari Pataa’, though there is some news that the last one is getting out of the race and looking at an April release. Surprisingly, despite the early reopening of cinemas in the state and a good two months to plan their releases, filmmakers have not capitalized on the situation. With adequate forethought and promotional strategies, Diwali could have turned out a major grossing opportunity for one of the big-ticket movies.
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