Tollywood lost a crucial year 2020 because of coronavirus pandemic and the actors came to the conclusion that it is impossible to shoot for the films before the vaccination for coronavirus arrives. Most of the Tollywood actors are in plans to line up films after they complete their current projects. Right from the top to the young actors, everyone is lining up 2-3 films. Except for Ram, everyone signed their next projects. Here is the list of the actors and their line up of upcoming projects:

Chiranjeevi: Acharya, Vedhalam Remake, Lucifer Remake and Bobby film.
Balakrishna: Boyapati Sreenu’s film, Aditya 999 (discussions on).
Venkatesh: Naarappa, F3, Sekhar Kammula’s film and Tharun Bhasckar’s movie.
Nagarjuna: Wild Dog, Praveen Sattaru’s film, Raid Remake.
Pawan Kalyan: Vakeel Saab, Krish’s film and Harish Shankar’s film.
Prabhas: Radhe Shyam and Nag Ashwin’s film.
Mahesh Babu: Sarkaru Vaari Paata, SS Rajamouli’s film.
NTR: RRR and Prashanth Neel’s film.
Ram Charan: RRR, Vamshi Paidipally film, Lokesh Kanagaraj movie.
Allu Arjun: Pushpa, Icon and Koratala Siva’s flick.
Nani: V, Tuck Jagadish, Shyam Singha Roy, Vivek Athreya’s film.
Vijay Devarakonda: Fighter, Shiva Nirvana’s film, Mohanakrishna Indraganti’s film.
Varun Tej: Boxing drama and F3.
Naga Chaitanya: Love Story, Vikram Kumar’s film, Nandini Reddy’s flick and Mohanakrishna Indraganti’s film.
Ram: Red.
Rana Daggubati: Aranya, Viraata Parvam, Ayyappanum Koshiyum remake and Hiranyakashyapa.
Ravi Teja: Krack, Ramesh Varma’s film, Ayyappanum Koshiyum remake, Trinadha Rao Nakkina’s film and Vakkantham Vamsi’s film.
Sharwanand: Sreekaram, Tamil-Telugu bilingual, Ajay Bhupathi’s Maha Samudram, Asian Films project.
Sai Dharam Tej: Solo Brathuke So Better, Deva Katta’s film, Dil Raju-BVSN Prasad film.
Nithiin: Rang De, Check, Powerpeta, Andhadhun remake.
Gopichand: Seetimaar, Alivelu Manga Venkataramana.
Akhil: Most Eligible Bachelor, Surendar Reddy’s film.
Nikhil: 18 Pages, Karthikeya 2 and Asian Films project.
Allari Naresh: Bangaru Bullodu and Naandhi.
Sudheer Babu: V and Pullela Gopichand biopic.
Karthikeya: Chavu kaburu Challaga.

Ever since the Tollywood actors came to know that the shoots will not resume soon, most of the actors are away from their daily routine. Skipping their diet habits, some of them got habitual to home food and some of them did not even look towards the gym. After months of relaxation, Tollywood is slowly getting back to work. The actors started hitting the gym and they are back to a strict diet. Actors like Prabhas, Varun Tej, Vijay Devarakonda, Sharwanand, Nani are working out on a regular basis currently.

NTR and Ram Charan have been asked to maintain the physique and the actors never skipped their diet and fitness regime. Chiranjeevi too is working out regularly to return back to work soon. As per the early updates, the shoots of Telugu films may resume from the second half of September or during early October. The makers are eagerly waiting to resume the shoot at the earliest and get back to work.

Bollywood has seen some strange and interesting combinations when it comes to actors and producers too. A bunch of producers along with a corporate giant comes forward to bankroll a big-budget project. This trend is not seen across South Indian circles often. But with the arrival of coronavirus, several Tollywood producers are looking for collaborations. Instead of paying a bomb for the directors, some of the producers are offering a share in the profits so that the financial stress would be reduced.

To keep the risk minimum, several producers are in plans to work together sharing the budgets and the profits. This even brings down the financial pressure. If the project happens at a smooth pace, there would be more collaborations. Suresh Babu already started this trend long ago. Oh Baby is such a project. People Media Factory is working on over a dozen projects and most of them have another producer on board.

Mahesh Babu’s GMB Entertainment is joining hands with Sony Pictures India for Major. Producers like Dil Raju already announced that he is ready to lend financial support if small filmmakers come up with interesting ideas and scripts. Director Krish who also produces films is also in talks for multiple projects in such a manner. Shyam Prasad Reddy, Suresh Babu and Gemini Kiran already formed a team to produce content-driven films. Several corporate giants are in plans to tie up with renowned filmmakers to make their ways into the Telugu market.

Tollywood is finally following Bollywood strategies and some interesting combinations, collaborations are on cards.

With the arrival of digital platforms, exploring the content of neighboring languages and countries turned easy. If the film is a hit in the neighboring language, several filmmakers are competing to acquire the remake rights and remake it in their language. Tollywood filmmakers are quite interested in Malayalam remakes during this season. Though it surprised many, Megastar Chiranjeevi decided to remake Lucifer which was dubbed into Telugu and the film even had a theatrical release.

Sujeeth will direct the remake which will start rolling soon. Sithara Entertainments acquired the remake rights of Ayyappanum Koshiyum sometime ago and they recently bagged the remake rights of Kappela. There is huge competition for one more critically acclaimed movie Driving License. All these projects will roll next year and will release soon. The pre-production work of some of the projects started recently.

With the coronavirus not leaving anyone soon, it is clear that the normalcy won’t return anytime soon. Tollywood predicted that the film shoots will resume from July and theatres would reopen from September or October. But with the rise in the new cases, the actors and directors are scared to resume the shoots. Several producers who waited with patience are in talks with OTT platforms to release their films on digital platforms. Dil Raju is already in talks to release V on Amazon Prime.

Though the talks took place last time, Dil Raju wasn’t happy with the price quoted by Amazon. With Dil Raju in talks with the digital platforms now, the producers of some more films are in plans to release their films soon on OTT platforms. Red, Nishabdham already completed the post-production formalities. Movies like Krack and Solo Brathuke So Better are in the last leg of shoot. Going with the update, Tollywood audience will witness a digital release of several prominent Telugu films very soon.

The impact of coronavirus pandemic will stay for months and it will take years for the film industry to recover. The producers of Telugu cinema are puzzled about the future as they are not aware of the business calculations. A bunch of films like V, Nishabdham, Red and Aranya completed shoots. The non-theatrical rights of these films are sold out and the producers recovered a part of their investments. The theatrical rights of these films would be at risk as the distributors will not shell out huge money for them till things settle down.

Some of the buyers paid advances for their commitments and they are now mounting pressure to cancel their commitments and return their advance amounts. It means that the producers will have to take the risk for some more time. For those projects that are under shoot and those which will start rolling soon, there would be massive changes. For time being, there would be a huge financial pressure on the producers and they will not be able to enjoy table profits for their projects before release.

The budgets will be revised and the remunerations would be slashed. The distribution and exhibition system would witness many changes. This time, irrespective of the casting and the combinations, the producers would be at risk till normalcy returns.

Digital giants Netflix and Amazon managed to get enough number of audience across India. Allu Aravind along with some of the business tycoons floated Aha. They spent Rs 80 crores on the Telugu OTT platform till date but the response has been mixed. As per the latest news, one more OTT platform is getting ready for Telugu audience. Veteran actor Raja Raveendra along with his friends is getting ready to launch a digital platform very soon.

They are focused on films that are struggling for a theatrical release and those which are occupied with financial troubles. Raja Raveendra and his friends are investing in some of the films which are in the final stages of shoot and those which are struggling to complete the post-production formalities.

They are in talks to acquire the digital rights of these films for decent prices and release them on their platform. The OTT platform aims to acquire the rights of 100 films initially. Telugu audience will get one more option among the digital platforms. Aha is struggling to get the right content even after having the backup of an experienced producers like Allu Aravind. We have to wait to see how Raja Raveendra’s OTT platform stands in this tough competition.

Tollywood filmmakers are shattered with neck-deep problems after the coronavirus pandemic. The theatres are shut and the shoots are stalled. The interests are heaping up and several films are waiting to get a theatrical release soon. Several filmmakers and analysts made it clear that it would be impossible for the theatres to screen films this year. Hence several filmmakers are focused on selling off the digital rights and recover some part of their investments.

The satellite rights for Telugu films happened to recover a part of the investments for the makers from the past few years. With most of the filmmakers keen to sell the digital rights, some of the tv channels are not ready to buy the satellite rights. To date, several producers recovered through the digital and satellite rights and managed to enter safe zone even after the film had a poor box-office run.

The tv channels are mounting pressure on the producers who already took advances for the satellite deals. These tv channels are not ready to close the deals if these films will head for a digital release. Some of the tv channels argue to have a simultaneous digital and satellite release for the films which is not a fair idea. In this case, the digital platforms will not shell huge amounts and acquire the digital rights.

Some of the producers are mediating to have a digital and satellite release for a film within a gap of a month which would be profitable for everyone. As of now, the satellite deals turned out to be the new headache for producers after the coronavirus pandemic.

The important meeting of the Producers Guild took place recently and all the active producers who are a part of the Guild made their presence for the meeting. The discussion was majorly focused on how to save the producers in this coronavirus crisis. All the producers proposed a pay cut of 25% for the actors, directors and all the technicians who are associated with the Telugu films.

The Producers Guild decided to implement this for the upcoming movies which are waiting for release to the films that are under shoot and those which will start rolling this year. A couple of more meetings are planned to discuss other issues. Several producers are also keen to slash down the budgets of their upcoming movies. All the directors have been asked to work on the revised budgets.

There are several meetings going on about resuming the shoots of Telugu films. While some of them are ready for shoots, most of the directors, producers and actors are not ready to take a risk and land in unwanted troubles in this coronavirus season. Considering the statistics, the spread of coronavirus is high and shooting in these conditions following the guidelines is undoubtedly a huge risk for everyone. One unexpected incident will turn a threat for the entire industry says producer Suresh Babu.

Maintaining social distancing on the sets is not an easy task. For a romantic entertainer, the hero and the heroine will have to shoot closer and they cannot miss the intimacy. Though some of the filmmakers say that they are ready to shoot with just 50 crew members, it is impossible practically. Even a small film needs 70 crew members and shooting with the new guidelines and taking a risk is not the need of the hour. Though the government is ready to grant permissions, most of the filmmakers are not ready to resume the shoots considering the guidelines and the current situations.

As per the ongoing debates and updates, the shoots of Telugu films will not resume before August.

Megastar Chiranjeevi along with a bunch of celebrities met Telangana Cinematography Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav after which they met Telangana Chief Minister KCR. The government was positive and asked Telugu cinema bigwigs to come up with the guidelines that should be followed on the sets to grant permissions. But things changed eventually and the number of cases in and around Hyderabad are increasing on a regular basis.

As per the latest update, the Telangana government is now reconsidering their decision and they are not completely positive for the film shoots. Some of the producers and actors too are not ready to join the sets immediately. Tollywood producers will sure feel the pressure as the budgets would go up because of the special guidelines. Sanitizers, PPE sets, face masks, thermal scanners and other equipment would cost them a bomb and they should be maintained on the sets on a regular basis.

After collecting the feedback from several celebrities, the government decided to grant permission for shoots in August and not before that.

Hyderabad is the most comfortable place for film shoots as the city has enough number of studios and shooting floors. There is huge amount of open space available across the outskirts. Though the Telangana government is ready to grant permissions for film shoots, it is not that easy to shoot in Hyderabad. The number of coronavirus cases have been increasing at a rapid speed in Telangana and most of the new cases are from Hyderabad. There are several containment zones in the city.

It is not easy to conduct outdoor shoots in and around Hyderabad. The Telangana government may impose restrictions for shooting in the city and it may ask not to shoot in the city because of the increasing number of cases. Even the top actors are not recommending shoots in Hyderabad for some time. The shoot locations should be away from red zones. The crew members should be kept safe and healthy. Tollywood filmmakers have enough challenges to face in the coming days because of coronavirus.