While films of many big stars have bombed recently, the dubbed film Bichagadu is going great guns. Though lead actor Vijay Antony is hardly known to the Telugu audience, the film’s content has struck a chord with local movie-goers.
The Telugu rights for the Tamil film Pichaikkaran was bought for only Rs 50 lakh by Chadalavada Laksh. He then spent around Rs 1.5 crore for marketing the movie.
The film has already grossed Rs 13 crore. There is also a rumour that Brahmotsavam flopping at the box office helped this film become a success. “We initially released the film in just 50 to 60 screens in the first week. After the second day of Brahmotsavam, our film replaced it in many theatres. I can’t say whether it was because of the negative buzz about Brahmotsavam. I feel that my film’s content is good,” says Laksh.
The producer decided to release the film only one week before Brahmotsavam. “We know that it was a risk to compete with a big film, but we were prepared for it. Many exhibitors wanted to replace Brahmotsavam with our film and it definitely helped us to get more screens,” he says.The producer initially wanted to remake the film in Telugu, but later decided against it as it wasn’t possible to recreate the same scenes.
“That’s the reason we released the Telugu version after a month of the Tamil version,” says Laksh. The film is in its fourth week and still going strong.
