It looks like Tamil star Karthi’s market in Telugu states has dipped after flops like ‘Sultan’ and ‘Viruman’, hence his latest dubbed film ‘Japan’ has reportedly fetched mere Rs 3 crore from Telugu states.
“Initially, Tamil producers demanded Rs 6 crores for Telugu dubbing rights, but Telugu distributors were reluctant to bet so much money on Karthi since his last few solo-hero ovies didn’t do well among Telugu audience. After negotiations, it was finally bought for Rs 3 crores by Annapoorna Studios,” says a source.
Earlier, after the massive success of films like ‘Awara’, ‘Khakhi’ and ‘Kaithi’, Karthi became a house-hold name in the two Telugu states. “His market grew up to Rs 12 crores but it began to slide after flops like ‘Sultan’, ‘Chinna Babu',’ ‘Donga’ and ‘’Palasapudi Veerababu’ to dent his ratings. Even the much-hyped ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ where he played a key role of ‘Vandiya Devan’ couldn’t revive his Telugu market since it was hailed as a multi-starrer,” he adds.
It is high time for Karthi to bounce back into the reckoning in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh with his breezy entertainer ‘Japan’ loaded with family drama and action besides good dose of entertainment. “Recently, Rajinikanth and Vijay scored a bit in Telugu states with 'Jailer' and 'Leo' respectively, now it is Karthi's turn to deliver a big hit or else the market will dip further,” he concludes.
