Big business in Hindi for Tollywood flicks
Telugu films have always had a decent market when rights are sold for the Hindi versions, primarily because they do extremely well on television and register high TRPs week after week. And with Baahubali setting the cash registers ringing, attention towards South Indian films is more than ever. So, it comes as no surprise that Duvvada Jagannadham and Jai Lava Kusa have been sold for high prices.
While the former, an Allu Arjun-starrer directed by Harish Shankar raked in Rs 8 crore, NTR’s Jai Lava Kusa too has been sold for Rs 10 crore. So far, Baahubali (which was sold for a lot more considering it was bought on par with Bollywood films), SPYder (Rs 26.5 crore for Hindi, Telugu and Tamil together) and Katamarayudu have been the biggest money spinners in this arena.
Shares a source, “Gone are the times when actors concentrated on just the Telugu market. They are slowly attempting to widen their horizons, especially with the sudden peak in interest about South Indian cinema. All these films have actually got great bargains because they do have a market, and it is only becoming bigger by the day.”