Too big a risk taken

Ahead of Independence Day, a four-day long holiday prodded three producers to release their films on August 11. While all three believed that the step would be a sure-shot bet at success, box-office results speak otherwise. The films have suffered, with each one eating up the other’s revenue.

Of the three, Rana Dagubbati’s Nene Raju Nene Mantri is in the safe zone only because the budget of this film was around Rs 12 crore. Rana’s father and producer Suresh Babu used clever marketing strategies and sold the Hindi satellite rights for Rs 7 crore and the Telugu satellite rights for Rs 5 crore — managing to  recover the production cost. 

On the other hand, the other two films have been made with a bigger budget: Jaya Janaki Nayaka was made with a budget of Rs 50 crore and LIE was made at Rs 32 crore.

“Releasing three films is definitely a disadvantage  and everybody lost money. Usually, on Independence Day, I can screen 20 shows in multiplexes, but because of other films, I had to settle for less. But I have an advantage financially as I have the highest collections of the three and I also have the highest film sales in other languages,” says Suresh Babu, who is known to be a king at selling films. Owing to the clash, the other two films, despite positive reviews, would have to run longer in theatres to recover the costs.

“We have got very positive feedback. We are increasing more than 100 screens in all areas. The film is doing well and I am confident it will go a long way,” says Miryala Ravinder Reddy, producer of Jaya Janaki Nayaka. He said that it’s a big budget film because it has been made by a leading director and stars a talented support cast. The film collected nearly Rs 25 crore in the first four days and is expecting a growth on the Independence Day holiday. Actor Nithiin agreed that his thriller received mixed reviews in the beginning. 

“But on the second day, it got positive feedback and the revenue too increased.” The film, which is performing well at multiplexes but not-so-well at B and C centres, had its satellite rights sold out for Rs 7 crore Rs 3 crore in Telugu and Hindi respectively.

Getting the budget right
The advantage for Suresh Babu is that he made the film with a moderate budget and is also releasing his film in Tamil and Malayalam on September 7. “No political backdrop film has released in Tamil in recent times and I am expecting a flying start there too because of the recent political scenario there,” says Suresh Babu. That’s an added bonus for a film that’s already profited well from four days’ revenue.

Talking about his film, Suresh Babu says,  “I am never in the race of being number one as my film is not a high-budget film. I have two aims — one is to make Rana a successful actor and the other is to come up with a different kind of cinema. Now, everyone has noticed that Rana’s performance is better than before and it also gives writers a chance to come up with different types of stories. At least the thought process will change.”

He also added that his son is trying to introduce a new genre in Telugu cinema. 

“Commercial cinema also performs very well, but if you look at Independence Day (Tuesday), Ghazi and Leader are playing on television channels — I feel it is a sign of big success that he selected these kinds of films,” says Suresh Babu.