Tollywood sinking under super flops, fancy pay, and over-budget

Hyderabad: With more than 45-odd flops including star movies this year, Tollywood is going through tough times. Adding to their woes, superstars and young heroes are demanding anywhere between Rs 15 to 60 crores, while actresses crossed the Rs 4 crore mark per film and few directors touched the Rs 25 crore mark.

Apparently, these fancy payments pushed the budgets out of range to make the filmmaking business a losing proposition. For instance, Ravi Teja-Gopichand's film was put on hold, while Varun Tej’s “Matka’ makers reportedly working to cut budgets and more star films are going through budget revision.

“New producers and few NRI’s have pushed the industry to the brink since they lack business sense and doling out huge money to actors and actresses and spoiled the market. With OTT giants also cutting down on Telugu intake, Tollywood is doomed,” says producer C Kalyan, who claims that producers have become “Mr Money Bags’ these days. “Earlier, producers had control over budget and made big films with Rs 30 to 40 crores.But now budgets have gone over Rs 100 crores and touching Rs 150 crores, so producers are running from pillar to post to recover their money. In fact, few top producers have shut shop since even Hindi distributors are paying less for Telugu movies,” he adds.

He goes on to state that a producer suffered a heart attack in the making, while another producer sold his own properties to release a film and one more is reeling under Rs 100 crore losses despite making hits. "Films have gone over budget 6 to 7 times since stars have hiked their pay by four to five times. While stars and technicians are building swanky bungalows,  producers are disappearing from the scene unable to handle the pressure of the ruthless financiers," he adds.

Summing up the downward trend, producer Lagadapati Sridhar, says “We welcome new producers since they provide livelihood to thousands of cine workers. But neo-rich producers should take a crash course from veteran producers on cutting budgets and waste expenditure," says entrepreneur-turned-producer Sridhar Lagadapati.

"When I came into the industry 19 years ago, I met legendary producer Rama Naidu who advised me to select novel scripts and make them within specified budgets and not to fool around. So I get involved in scripts, then discuss making with the director and also take part in music sittings, so it has kept my banner alive, while others have shut shop," he adds.

Sridhar admits that many NRIs are investing in Telugu films. "I am against movie tourism by a few cash-rich NRIs who are misguided to invest more than needed for a film, so they have to have complete command. I understand that they have other businesses overseas and make films for instant fame. But they are causing more harm than good since their teams are hiking remunerations which are affecting regular producers," he informs.  

He calls digital platforms a new threat to Telugu films. "Flops are increasing in Tollywood because of poor and repetitive content. Even big stars have to change their thinking and pick novel themes like Tamil and Malayalam stars. Competing with other languages movies on OTTs demands enriched creativity since we can’t recover money on theatricals alone, which are seeing low turnouts these days," he concludes.