For Tollywood, the New Year always begins on a positive note – Yes with Sankranti. Traditionally, it is Tollywood’s biggest festival season at the box office.
In the earlier days marked with limited screen releases, big heroes used to dominate Sankranthi, along with many other small films. On an average, there used to be six to eight releases, but things have changed now.
The Sankranthi releases this year are – On 11nth it is Chiranjeevis come back after 10 years with Kahidi No 150 . Next it will be Gauthami Putra Sathakarni on January 12, followed by Dilrajus Sathamanam Bhavathi with Servnand on 14nth the festival day. Head constable Venkatramaiah with R Naranaya Murthy and Jayasudha. . While six films had announced a Pongal release last month, it came down to four.
The business of Pongal films has changed over the years said a senior producer. Earlier, despite the limited number of theatres, there were audiences for most star releases. Now, it is all about one big hero movie dominating the screens and trying to garner maximum collections. With maxium number of screens.”Some times it is more than 100 theatres.
This Sankranthi, the entire festival business revolves around two big heroes for this festival one is Chiranjeevi and the other is Balakrishna to be precise. Gautami putra has the potential to perform at the box office worldwide as it is a historic film. After demonetisation, audiences have become choosy regarding the movies they watch. They want to zero in on the best.
This 2017, the buzz is about two movies and two stars. One is doing his 100th and the other is doing his 150th. Balaiah has the back ground of Legend and his run at the box office for 1000 days. But Chiranjeevi is waiting for a hit and he has been out of the sink since last 9 years.
The trailers of these film has been appreciated by fans, and it looks like an action-packed masala entertainer laced with comedy and politics for Chiranjeevi. While Sathkarni is out and out historic and patriotic film covering Telangana and Andhra .
Dilraju is taking chance wiht his film so as to fill the gap beween Chiranjeevi and also Balaiah with Servanand.
The real show will be from Deepika Padukone’s Hollywood debut xXx: Return of Xander Cage. The action-packed entertainer, where she is cast opposite Vin Diesel, has some terrific stunt scenes. The film with a Tamil and Telugu dubbed version is releasing on Sankranthi, six days before its release in other international territories.
Hollywood studios seem to understand the Indian market better than the locals. In Tamil Nadu, seeing the huge success of dubbed content in the local market, many theatres are giving it top priority. xXx will get the second-highest number of screens in the State after Bairavaa.
The lone Hindi release is Ok Jaanu, the Hindi remake of Mani Ratnam’s O Kadhal Kanmani, which is likely to have a limited release in Chennai and Chengalpet multiplexes. The Sankranthi Telugu releases – Chiranjeevi’s comeback film Khaidi No.150, a remake of AR Murugadoss-Vijay’s Kaththi, Balakrishna’s Krish-directed period drama Gautamiputra Satakarni, and Sharwanand’s romcom Shatamanam Bhavati – will also be releasing in key Chennai and Chengalpet markets. All eyes are on the Pongal films and their box-office performance.
It is question of Prestige for both Balaih and Chiranjeevi groups and both are affiliated with political parties. Balaiah is a TDP MLA and Chiranjeevi was Congress Minister from the centre. One represents the Kamma and the other represents the Kaapu Community.
It has to be seen who will win the Sankranthi race.
