Barely a month to go to bid goodbye to the year 2021. The 11th month of the year turned out to be a disaster for the Telugu film industry. Post the second wave of the corona, the industry has witnessed a couple of hits and some decent runs. But this month has registered low footfalls at single screens and multiplexes across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Trade pundits have started believing that small-budgeted films might not suitable for theatrical release in the current times. Only spectacles and big-starrers can pull the audiences to the theaters is what the trend suggests.
The month saw many theatrical releases and the notable films are – ‘Manchi Rojulochaie’, ‘Enemy’, ‘Peddhanna’, ‘Kurup’, ‘Raja Vikramarka’, ‘Pushpaka Vimanam’, ‘Missing’, ‘Anubhavinchu Raja’, and ‘Cauliflower’.
Maruthi directed ‘Manchi Rojulochaie’ has failed to bring in openings but the film can be considered a safe venture for the makers given the low costs and OTT and satellite deal.
But the biggest surprise was Rajinikanth’s movie ‘Peddhanna’ turning out to be a huge disaster. The film also failed to rake in a decent opening. At one time, Rajinikanth’s dubbed movies fared on par with Tollywood’s big star movies. Now, his films are struggling to get even Rs 5, 6 crores opening in the first weekend in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Tamil star Vishal has completely lost his market in Telugu. He has added another dud to his long list of flops with ‘Enemy’.
The talented Kartikeya Gummakonda has once again erred in his judgment. His ‘Raja Vikramarka’ was a washout. Anand Deverakonda starrer crime drama ‘Pushpaka Vimanam’ received fairly better reviews among November 2021 releases but they couldn’t save the film.
It was also a flop. Dulquer Salmaan’s ‘Kurup’ has raked in some good money, though.
Raj Tarun’s ‘Anubhavinchu Raja’ was released last Friday. It was another dud in his career. Despite Nagarjuna’s promotion and Annapurna Studios’ backing, the film could not recover expenses for ‘posters and prints.
OTT releases
The month also saw new releases on OTT – 3 Roses (Aha, web series), Oka Chinna Family Story (ZEE5, web series), Adbhutham (Disney+Hotstar), Drushyam 2 (Amazon Prime)
Bro (Sony Liv). Among these, Adbhutham is the only film that made some buzz. Venkatesh’s ‘Drushyam 2’ failed to create noise.
Manchi Rojulochaie, Peddhanna, Kurup, Raja Vikramarka, Pushpaka Vimanam, Anubhavinchu Raja,
