Four reasons why Tollywood movies struggle to cross the Rs. 100 cr mark

Crossing the famous Rs.100 crore mark has become a must for every big film in Bollywood and Tamil Cinema. Bollywood has Khans, Kumars, Kapoors, and Roshans to achieve this feat while Tamil cinema is depending mostly on Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Ajith, Vijay, Vikram, and Suriya for the same. However, after producing India's biggest budget film to date, Baahubali, Telugu movies are still struggling to cross the Rs 100 crore mark.

From Chiranjeevi, Mahesh Babu, Pawan Kalyan to Allu Arjun, Ravi Teja, and Prabhas, some of the biggest stars of the south belong to the Telugu Industry. Also, scripts of Telugu films are highly coveted as many Bollywood makers are always looking to remake them in Hindi. Bollywood blockbustersReady, Rowdy Rathore, Kick, Son Of Sardar are the Bollywood remakes of hit Telugu films. Yet, there are not many 100 crore grossers in the Tollywood industry.

Have a look at some of the factors that restrict Telugu films the coveted 100 crore club.

1) The collection figures published by Bollywood are the nett figures (Gross Collections - Taxes) and Tamil films are the gross figures (Nett Collections + Taxes). But in Tollywood, Box Office numbers are based on the shares received from distributors excluding all the taxes and rents paid.

Photo: a film still

2) Another factor is that most of the Tamil films release simultaneously in Telugu while Telugu films release only in one language. Exception to this case is Baahubali.

3) The screen count of Bollywood and Tamil films is huge and have a very wide release compared to Telugu cinema. Telugu films release only in states that have a sizable Telugu population.

4) Both Bollywood films and Tamil films have a huge market in Kerala. Interestingly, the highest opener in Kerala is a non-Malayalam film; Shankar's Tamil film I is the biggest opener in the state. Unfortunately, for the Tollywood industry, their films have no market in Kerala. Telugu actor Allu Arjun has a decent fan base in Kerala and that's the only reason why his films are being dubbed in Malayalam.

Photo: a film poster

It's high time that Tollywood makers release their films in Kerala. However, things are changing now and Telugu films are slowly garnering more recognition, thanks to the stupendous success of S S Rajamouli's Baahubali. It created so much of a craze that even its Hindi dubbed version crossed the 100 crore mark at the Bollywood Box Office.