Fewer movies in Tollywood, but more money

Hyderabad: Tollywood produced fewer films in 2015 than 2014 but made more money. According to official statistics, 258 celluloid films were certified by the Central Board of Film Certification in 2015. In 2014 it was 280.  

The number of short films including trailers and advertisements was 767 in 2015 as against 792 in 2014, and video films were 97 in 2015 as against 158 in 2014.

Industry experts say that there were also many films that did not reach the censor stage and those that were censored but not released.
Veteran filmmaker Thammareddy Bharadwaja said, “Out of films that are censored, around 15 to 20 per cent are not released. For quality films there are always buyers. The filmmakers should know for what purpose they are making the films.”

When it is about business, buyers will only go for good ones, which can get collections. Non-entity films like Rajugari Gadhi, Jatha Kalise and Cinema Chupista Mama did well. We can’t blame the theatres as how many films in 365 days can they screen?,” he asked.

He added, “Shooting started and stopped midway for around 40 per cent of films whose titles were registered with the chamber. Films like Baahubali definitely brought about changes in the making style but at the same time buyers bought other films for high prices and they are now in the doldrums.”
He also said that the number of dubbed films had gone down in Tollywood.

Read: Tollywood Censors take right turn

Out of 258 films censored, 175 Telugu films released in 2015 and the industry saw approximately '2,000 crore gross business, with a good success rate.

The good thing was that apart from the big films like Baahubali and Srimanthudu, small films also became big grossers.
In 2014, nearly 200 films released with a budget of '2,000 crore. But in the end only eight per cent of the films did business at the box-office and the industry lost nearly '1,500 crore.

Allu Arjun’s Race Gurram, Balakrishna’s Legend and Nagarjuna’s Manam had crossed the '50 crore mark in 2014. The theatres are mostly managed by a few people in Telangana like Dil Raju, Chiranjeevi’s family and Asian Cinema.

Recently even actor Nagarjuna had to work very hard to get his new film Soggade Chinni Nayana screened in theatres.

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