Pokiri to Magadheera: Theatrical Re-release to Revive Telugu Cinema

With much-hyped ‘Magadheera’ hitting the theatres on the eve of Ram Charan’s birthday today and another yesteryear hit ‘Legend’ starring Balakrishna is also set to re-release in theatres. “No doubt, re-releases of star movies have revived our hopes and encouraged us to screen more movies. We were worried about audiences skipping theatres to enjoy movies on digital space, but big stars brought back the crowds and gave our single theatres a new lease of life,” says Balgovind Raj Tadla, owner of Sudarshan theatres in Hyderabad.

He also refers to the quotation of seasoned star Venkatesh and adds, “Venkateshgaru had stated that theatres encourage collective viewing experience and nothing could replace it. It is similar to watching a cricket match in a stadium with crowds and cheer buzzing around. At the end of the day, a human being is a social animal and loves to enjoy entertainment with his friends and family,” he informs.

Despite facing issues of vandalism and overcrowding at Sudarshan 35 mm theatre hasn't deterred Bal Govind from re-releasing movies in his theatre. "It is certain that we faced a few minor issues. For instance, during the screening of film ‘Yogi’ starring Prabhas, few disgruntled men were drunk and wanted to get on to the stage close to the big screen to dance but our security and some fans halted them from doing so to avoid any damage to the big screen,” he informs. Later, when the show of Prabhas’s action film ended, the said miscreants found some crates of empty bottles lying there and they took them and smashed them down on the floor to create ruckus. “Luckily, no one was hurt and there wasn’t much damage caused to the theatre, so it wasn’t vandalism as reported,” he informs.

Actually, the same theatre faced some issues during the release of Mahesh Babu’s ‘Businessman’ last week but it wasn’t serious either. “We faced the issue of overcrowding for that film but fortunately no other mischief. We managed to handle the surging crowds without any issues thereafter,” adds Tadla. In fact, he has hired special bouncers to tackle crowds and fan frenzy in his theatre during re-release of superstar films. "We have been hiring between five to 15 bouncers to provide additional security during star-studded films and managed to keep things under control,” he informs. He would be spending Rs 5000 per bouncer and it would be costing him Rs 50,000 to 70,000 for each re-release.