The Hindu Business Line : 25 Telugu films lined up for Dusserah

Sceptics who predicted a doom for cinemas seemed to have taken a backseat for now, with producers finding it difficult to get cinemas for releasing their films.

TELUGU FILM ACTOR Nagarjuna with his wife and former actress Amala at the promo of Shiva-2006, directed by Ramgopal Varma. - Mohammed Yousuf

Hyderabad , Sept. 13

Riding on the huge success of over 12 films this year, including Pokiri the biggest hit in the 75-year-old Telugu film history, the industry has lined up about 25 films for the Dusserah season.

The line-up for Dusserah included Chiranjeevi's Stalin and Nagarjuna's Boss.

Reports said Stalin would be released in 700 theatres with over 400 prints. Nearly one-tenth of these prints would be sent abroad, half of them for screening in the US.

"The industry is upbeat after a string of bad years. Though there were successes here and there earlier, it was for the first time there were so many hits," said an associate of film director, Mr S.S. Rajamouli.

Sceptics who predicted a doom for cinemas seemed to have taken a backseat for now with producers finding it difficult to get cinemas for releasing their films.

The year began with the success of Devadas (directed by Mr Y.V.S. Chowdhary), Lakshmi (Mr V.V. Vinayak) and Style (directed by choreographer Lawrence). The spree of success continued with Ranam, Sri Ramadasu, Pokiri, Godavari, Vikramarkudu, Andhala Ramudu and Bommarillu.

Despite the series of successes, producers seemed to be very cautious this time.

The fact that the regional officer of Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has, so far, certified just 140 films (up to September 1) as against 250 for the whole of last year showed the cautious approach of the industry. This, however, was just part of the story, Mr T.G. Ravi Sekhar, a veteran exhibitor from Kurnool and a senior member of AP Film Chamber of Commerce, told Business Line.

"We cannot say that all is well. For every successful film, there are at least 10 films that ran less than seven days. What is the fate of the cinemas which end up with such films," he said.

Television channels continued to hit the cinemas in the `B' and `C' centres very hard. "TV channels telecast at least 15-20 Telugu films every day. Who will come to the cinemas," he asked.He cited the example of dwindling patronage for Hindi movies in small towns.

"Some channels telecast new movies within months of their release. There are no Hindi movies screening in these towns," he said.

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