Is Tollywood losing its sheen? Apparently yes, if the rankings released this year by the Film Federation of India (FFI) are anything to go by. The ranking is based on the number of movies produced per financial year.
From a whopping 334 films produced in 2013-14, to only 275 during 2015-16, Tollywood has gone from its numero uno position to third place, behind both Bollywood and Kollywood. Box office numbers are down because of unoriginal films, reasons director and scriptwriter, K. Dasarath.
He explains, “Though the number of films produced has not alarmingly reduced, it may be that Tollywood has hit its saturation point with a lack of original content and the constant inflow of dubbed movies.”
Dasarath, who has a blockbuster movie like Santosham to his credit, explains how the financial system has changed and affected the industry. “Nowadays, even the bank needs producers who have a good track record of three to four consecutive hits before financing them,” he says.
A lesser number of small budget movies are getting made. “Nowadays, small budget movie makers are not getting good satellite deals, unlike earlier. Satellite deals previously added to box office collections. Without those, they (the producers) have stopped making films,” says Suresh Babu, eminent Tollywood producer.
Making a film with big heroes is an expensive proposition, also affecting the number of movies produced per year. The top actors, too, don’t act in a lot of movies per year.
“The top five heroes are doing one film at a time, spanning over a year or so and that too not on a regular basis. Apart from the star cast, content plays a very important part while making a film. No wonder Tamil and Bollywood movies are eating into the share of Tollywood’s screen space,” says distributor and producer, Abhishek Nama.
Agreeing with Abhishek is Gopimohan, screenplay and story writer, who says, “It is not wrong on the part of the top heroes to be selective when big stakes are involved. After the failure of big budget movies like Brahmotsavam and Sardaar Gabbar Singh, Mahesh Babu and Pawan Kalyan are treading the path very cautiously. But it’s not the end of the world. Next year will be good for Tollywood as young actors like Nani and Nithiin are working consistently well.” It’s a phase which will soon get over, hope industry insiders.
