From Businessman to Gabbar Singh, Rerelease Trend in Tollywood Continues

With superstar Mahesh Babu’s ‘Businessman’ drawing huge crowds on re-release on August 9, it invariably joins the elite list of re-releases in Tollywood. Star-studded films like ‘Kushi’, ‘Simhadri,’ ‘Dhookudu,’ “Jalsa’ and ‘Chennakeva Reddy’ have enthralled fans of Pawn Kalyan, Jr NTR, Balakrishna and Mahesh Babu in a big way.

“No doubt, it is celebration time for fans of various superstars and they are reveling in a festive atmosphere in theatres,” says producer Bandla Ganesh, who is planning to re-release his blockbuster film ‘Gabbar Singh’ starring Pawan Kalyan. “This trend augurs well for the industry as it revives the interest of the audience to watch movies in theatres instead of mobiles and TVs. Besides, these big ticket movies have great recall value and fans get immersed in discussing pros and cons of these movies and feel a new high,” he says.

But he rules out producers' plan to pocket a few crores by cashing in on the trend. “It is not about money because we are going to give the collections of ‘Gabbar Singh’ to some charities. However, we want to give nostalgic moments for fans since these films were released 10 years ago. We wish they will cherish these movements forever,” adds Ganesh.

However, director Teja has a different take on it, “May be we are not making good enough films these days so fans are thronging to theatres to watch old blockbusters. Jokes aside, film viewing experience on the big screen is unmatched and collections of these re-releases have vindicated it. The myth that OTTs have overtaken cinema has been busted. In fact, few exhibitors are asking me to re-lease Mahesh Babu’s ‘Nijjam’ and I’m thinking of it. Since producers regain full rights after five years and they are entitled to do whatever they want,” he informs.

Summing up the trend, Balgovind Raj Tadla, owner of Sudarshan 35 mm, who screened ‘Businessman” in his theatre, says, “It is nothing but fan frenzy at its peak and ticket counters were ringing for three to four days, to revive our hopes a bit,” he says and adds, ”At one point of time, we were worried about survival of single theatres but things have changed for better, thanks to re-release fad. Once actor Venkatesh Daggubati told me that nothing can replace ‘collective movie experience’ in theatres and it turned out to be true. Theatres filled with crowds, ecstatic fans dancing and yelling as turned theatres into discotheques and brought back the lost glory of single screens,” he concludes.