The mindset of the Telugu audience has changed after the pandemic. They are selective when watching films in theatres. The trailer is deciding the fate of a film and some of the films are preferred to be watched on OTT. After two bad months, it was a great Friday for Telugu cinema. Kalyanram’s Bimbisara opened on a remarkable note from A to C centres and it ran with packed houses yesterday. The other film Sita Ramam too opened on a positive note and the film performed well in cities and multiplexes.

Both Bimbisara and Sita Ramam opened well in Telugu states and USA. The film fraternity is left in huge relief with the box-office numbers. The audience once again hinted that they are not ready to watch scrap and outdated content in theatres and they are ready to watch interesting films in theatres. Both Bimbisara and Sita Ramam are expected to have a packed weekend. Sita Ramam is the comeback for Hanu Raghavapudi and Bimbisara is the comeback for Kalyanram. Debutant Vassishta handled Bimbisara well and the shoot of the sequel will start soon.

The Active Producers Guild met recently and held a series of meetings. They decided to stall the shoots of Telugu films starting from August 1st. The other active bodies of Telugu cinema deferred the decision and they said that the other producers would continue to shoot for their respective films. Now, the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce has decided to support the decision of the Producers Guild and announced that the shoots of Telugu films will be stalled from tomorrow. All the Telugu film shoots will be kept on hold from August 1st.

The decision about resuming the shoots will be taken after discussing about the issues and after all the resolutions are found. The remunerations of the stars, heaping up budgets and the OTT release cap are the major issues that the Telugu film industry is facing. The ticket prices in Telangana turned out to be a barrier for the footfalls in the state. All the producers should come out and discuss about the challenges and meet the stars to cut down their fees. Hope the issues will be resolved soon.

With the increasing budgets and heaping up interests, the Active Telugu Film Producers Guild met yesterday to discuss about their further course of action. The Producers Guild decided to put all the film shoots on hold starting from August 1st till all the issues are resolved. “Post-pandemic, with the changing revenue situations and increasing costs, it has become important for the producers to discuss all the issues we are facing as a community of filmmakers. It is our responsibility to better the ecosystem and ensure that we are releasing our films in a healthy environment. In this regard, all the producer members of the Guild have voluntarily decided to withhold the shootings from August 1st 2022 to sit in discussions until we find workable resolutions” told the official statement from the Producers Guild.

A ‘Cost Cutting Committee’ was formed and the Committee will analyse where the waste is much. The Committee will also frame some strict guidelines about cost cutting during production. There would be discussion about the heaped up remunerations and how to discuss this with the star actors and directors. UV Vamshi, Sudhakar Cherukuri, S Naga Vamsi and others are a part of the Cost Cutting Committee that will meet to discuss and find the solutions for the problems. Frequent meetings will be held by the Guild members to lock the strict guidelines and follow them in the future.

Telugu Film Chamber proposes new Rulesarly windows for OTT release. They have proposed

Telugu Film Chamber met to discuss about various issues and hurdles in Tollywood. The major discussion was about the hiked ticket prices, OTT window and some strict implementations about the same. All the small budget films can have a OTT release gap of four weeks. All the medium and big-budget films should have their digital release only after 10 weeks from the theatrical release. There has been a debate going on about the ticket prices. The prices are fixed in Andhra Pradesh and new GOs are issued for big-budget films.

In Telangana, the Film Chamber proposed new ticket prices. The prices for multiplexes and single screens are Rs 125 and Rs 100 in A and B Centres for small budget films. For medium-budget films, the prices are Rs 177 and Rs 112 in A and B Centres. For big-budget films, the prices are said to be Rs 295 and Rs 177 in multiplexes and single screens. When it comes to C centres, the prices for small budget films are Rs 125 and Rs 70 respectively and for medium budget projects, the proposed prices in C centres are Rs 177 and Rs 100. For big-budget films, the prices in C centres are Rs 295 and Rs 150.

The budgets of Telugu films reached new heights and the producers are staring at huge losses because of the heaped-up budgets. Most of the producers are relying on investments that are brought for interests. A delay in the shoot or the release is heaping up the interests of their films. The star actors and directors are charging huge after the non-theatrical rights are fetching huge deals. The producers are unable to control the remunerations of the stars. The expenses of the staffers of the actors and the actresses too reached new heights.

Several actors and actresses have been dumping these expenses on the producers. Several star heroines are demanding close to Rs 1 lakh per day for the expenses of their staff members. This doesn’t happen in Bollywood. It is our producers who welcomed such moves and they turned out to be a new headache for the producers. The remunerations of the character actors too are hiked by four times and the other expenses reached new heights.

The foreign shoots are a real nightmare for the producers as the wastage is quite high. Most of the producers are not taking a hold of the film’s budget as they are busy with multiple projects. The corruption in the production expenses too increased badly in the recent years. Its high time for the producers to be focused and cut down the wastage to survive for a longer time.

Gone are the days when producers had a strong hold over the film production and the budgets. With the remunerations of the star actors and directors touching skies and production costs heaping up, the film budgets could not be controlled. Tollywood producers are worried about the wastage on the sets on a regular basis that could not be controlled. Though the producers are planning strict budgets, they are unable to complete the films on the proposed budgets. Some of the actors are throwing their personal expenses on the producers and the makers are not daring to oppose.

The number of working days are increasing. The remunerations of the staff members for the actors and the actresses are costing a bomb. Some of the actresses have been demanding separate caravans for their staffers and rooms in star hotels during the outdoor shoots. For star heroes, the total staff members are close to 15 and their expenses, flight tickets, and accommodation has to be borne by the producers. There is no control over the final budget till the shoot completes.

With the non-theatrical rights fetching good prices, the producers are not much bothered about the budgets and the heaping interests. Else, most of the producers of this generation would have vanished.

Several Indian films are shot abroad and USA happens to be one of the best countries for film shoots. But there are lot of restrictions when issued visas for film stars and crew members. After the pandemic, the nation is focused on student and work visas. There are no slots available for visas for film shoots this year. Balakrishna’s next directed by Gopichand Malineni was planned to be shot in USA but with no visa slots available, the makers shifted the shoot to Turkey.

Several films that had plans to shoot in USA are now picking up European countries or London. Some of the European countries are also offering incentives for film shoots to boost up tourism and the makers are scouting locales in Europe than in USA. It is unclear when the US Embassy issues visa slots for the shoots of Indian films.

The first half of 2022 came to an end and Tollywood had a mixed first half. After the country recovered well from coronavirus, the third wave attacked in January and all the biggies were pushed to summer. Nagarjuna and Naga Chaitanya’s Bangarraju was the only decent film in January. Though the film received a mixed response, the Sankranthi season helped the film well. February had 22 releases and Pawan Kalyan’s Bheemla Nayak ended up as a decent hit. DJ Tillu is the biggest hit among the small films this year. Ravi Teja’s Khiladi has been declared as a disaster.

March witnessed a series of flops. Adavallu Meeku Joharlu, Sebastian, ET, Standup Rahul and Radhe Shyam ended up as flops. Prabhas’ film Radhe Shyam failed to report decent numbers. SS Rajamouli continued his success streak with RRR. The film is declared a blockbuster in all the languages. RRR is the biggest hit of the country this year. Except KGF: Chapter 2, all the other releases in April ended up as flops. Varun Tej’s Ghani and Chiranjeevi, Ram Charan starrer Acharya lost trace at the box-office.

KGF: Chapter 2 is declared as a super hit and the film fared exceptionally well in Hindi and Kannada languages. Mahesh Babu’ Sarkaru Vaari Paata and Anil Ravipudi’s F3 have been decent among the May releases. Both these films recovered their investments and had a decent run. June also had a bunch of releases. Kamal Haasan made a massive comeback with Vikram and the film is a blockbuster. Adivi Sesh delivered one more hit with Major. The film also did decent in Hindi. Nani’s Ante Sundaraniki ended up as a disappointment. Rana and Sai Pallavi’s Virata Parvam failed to report decent openings.

Kannada film 777 Charlie is a smashing hit in Kannada and the film has been decent in Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi languages. A bunch of small-budget films like Sammathame, Chor Bazaar, Rowdy Boys, Hero, Good Luck Sakhi, Son of India, Mishan Impossible, Jayamma Panchayathi, Bhala Thandanana, Shekar, Godse, Konda, 7 Days 6 Nights and others ended up as flops. 2022 first half is a mixed bag for Tollywood.