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First Quarter - Blockbuster : Arundhathi
Hero of the first Quarter : Shyamprasad Reddy
Star of First Quarter : Ravi Shankar
While 2008 started with Aapada Mokkula Vaadu, 2009 started with Posani Krishna Murali's Mental Krishna. The film showed his bad taste and proved that he cannot even copy a film properly. (The film is a freemake of Dasari's Swayamvaram.) Krissnavamsi came up with Sashirekha Parniyam with Genelia in the lead and Tarun supporting her role. The film was just okay at the box-office. It set new trend in Tollywood - the movie's original DVD released within 50 days and did telecast on TV in just 100 days of its release. Indumathi, another freemake (of Alfred Hitchcock's much-celebrated film Psycho), didn't hit the bull's eye.
Maskaa started off with good openings and settled as average once the Arundhati hit the screen. Arundhati was delayed for various reasons, and was finally released to extraordinary openings, becoming one of the big hits of all time. The first 40 days run is tremendous but slowly started fizzling after 6 weeks. Neverthless, it is a blockbuster. Finally, producer Shyamprasad Reddy's hard work paid off!
Much delayed and talked-about film Bank was unable to sustain any interest and became a super dud at the box-office, marking the second straight Telugu film and flop for Jackie Shroff ( Asthram being the first). Rest of the films we can say "Release ayyi... pOyaayi" (just came and went). Masth under the direction of S.V. Krishna Reddy marking the Telugu film-making debut of Zee Films Pvt. Ltd. had big names associated with it but failed miserably anyway.
Blockbuster: Arundhati
Average: Maskaa, Sashirekha Parniyam
Super dud: Masth
Average: Maskaa, Sashirekha Parniyam
Super dud: Masth
Debutent Directors in the season : G.L.B. Srinivas ( Mahanagaramlo... Shiva, Chandu), Harsha Reddy ( Indumathi), Ramu ( Police Adhikari), Ramana Mogili ( Bhairavi), Nani Krishna ( Nallammaayi-Thellabbaayi), Viswaprasad ( Mister Gireesham), Paamu Seenu ( Veta), Akula Raghava ( BharatMahan.Com), Arunkumar ( Bank), Saibhanu ( Manjeera)
The month of February 2009...
...witnessed the release of ten straight films. Konchem Ishtam Konchem Kashtam started with good talk but was unable to sustain the interest. The film did complete 50 days in 99 centers by March, but the producer and distributors too lost money in the project ultimately. Sathyameva Jayathe made a lot of pre-release publicity for all wrong reasons, but the final product exited the box-office quite silently. Drona made into the news often for Priyamani's bikini act, and not for the debutant director who comes from Rajamouli's school or for the film's hero Nithin. The film ended up as and addition to the series of flops for the hero. Charmme's 16 Days, a free-make of Hollywood's Lucky Number Slevin (2006), was a dud too, though this film also based its publicity in its heroine's sizzling acts. Not many people were even aware of other releases of the month, such as Subham, Janta, Mondi Mogullu-Penki Pellaalu, Soldier, and Tsunami 7x. Dubbed version of critically acclaimed Tamil director Bala's film, Nenu Devunni was a disaster at the box-office too, while it's rumored that the dubbing rights were bought for a whopping one-crore rupees!
...witnessed the release of ten straight films. Konchem Ishtam Konchem Kashtam started with good talk but was unable to sustain the interest. The film did complete 50 days in 99 centers by March, but the producer and distributors too lost money in the project ultimately. Sathyameva Jayathe made a lot of pre-release publicity for all wrong reasons, but the final product exited the box-office quite silently. Drona made into the news often for Priyamani's bikini act, and not for the debutant director who comes from Rajamouli's school or for the film's hero Nithin. The film ended up as and addition to the series of flops for the hero. Charmme's 16 Days, a free-make of Hollywood's Lucky Number Slevin (2006), was a dud too, though this film also based its publicity in its heroine's sizzling acts. Not many people were even aware of other releases of the month, such as Subham, Janta, Mondi Mogullu-Penki Pellaalu, Soldier, and Tsunami 7x. Dubbed version of critically acclaimed Tamil director Bala's film, Nenu Devunni was a disaster at the box-office too, while it's rumored that the dubbing rights were bought for a whopping one-crore rupees!
The winner? With not even a threat of a competition from any other film's run, the already successful, trendsetting movie Arundhati continued in the number one slot for the month of February too.
Film-joke of the month: Konchem Ishtam Konchem Kashtam is about divorced parents and marital clashes. Hero Siddharth was found saying in several interviews that their efforts are really paid off even if one divorced couple gets back into the institution of marriage after watching this film. Well, how about the real-life marriage issues of Prakash Raj and Siddharth himself?!
Out of seven directors that debuted this month - Kishore ( Konchem Ishtam Konchem Kashtam), G. Sivaprasad Reddy ( Subham), Om Prakash Martha ( Janta), Karunakumar ( Drona), Prabhu Solomon (16 Days), K. Ramana Rao ( Mondi Mogullu-Penki Pellaalu), A.M. Chowdary ( Tsunami 7x) - only Kishore (a.k.a. Dolly) was promising. Karunakumar's Drona was too hyped for its lack of substance.
Super hit of the month: None
Average of the month: Konchem Ishtam Konchem Kashtam
Super duds: Drona, Sathyameva Jayathe
Average of the month: Konchem Ishtam Konchem Kashtam
Super duds: Drona, Sathyameva Jayathe
Overseas, Konchem Ishtam Konchem Kashtam was bought for Rs. 70 lakhs and ended up in a loss of Rs. 15 lakhs on the whole. Drona and 16 Days were released abroad but didn't get any close to making a mark.
In the month of March...
Eight and a half straight films were released this month. (The 50% credit goes to partly-dubbed-partly-reshot Aakashamanta from Tamil original) Shivaji's Naa Girlfriend Baagaa Rich, a free-make of Eight Heads in a Duffel Bag, had richness in its title but ended as a poor one as it didn't meet expectations even in the much-touted aspect of comedy. Suresh Krissna Mesthri with Dasari Narayana Rao generated a lot of hype and curiosity but the result was very different from all the talk it garnered; the film ended up as a dud even though this film had maximum number of prints (~200) in Dasari's acting career! (Dasari, as usual as it may seem, denies the fact that the film was a washout.) Sunil Kumar Reddy's Sontha Vooru got okay reviews but only L.B. Sriram shone through this film with his strikingly different getup and penning appreciable dialogues. Director Raj Aditya of Pourudu came up with Mallee Mallee that had a suicide backdrop, but sadly committed suicide himself on the day his film was released; the film was a flop too. Mee Sreyobhilashi fame Eswar Reddy's second venture Manorama with Charmme got mixed reviews and went silent at the end. Amma Rajashekar's Beebhatsam with his brother Yuvan in the lead had no takers either. Dil Raju's nearly-straight film Aakashamanta didn't seem to have worked out too. Thus, the month of March did not register a single hit for Tollywood. Due to the upcoming elections, stars are roaming all over the state and people are watching film stars in road shows and other public gatherings. Bad films and exams add up as more reasons that all finally rendered theaters nearly empty. The same situation might prevail until elections are done with.
Eight and a half straight films were released this month. (The 50% credit goes to partly-dubbed-partly-reshot Aakashamanta from Tamil original) Shivaji's Naa Girlfriend Baagaa Rich, a free-make of Eight Heads in a Duffel Bag, had richness in its title but ended as a poor one as it didn't meet expectations even in the much-touted aspect of comedy. Suresh Krissna Mesthri with Dasari Narayana Rao generated a lot of hype and curiosity but the result was very different from all the talk it garnered; the film ended up as a dud even though this film had maximum number of prints (~200) in Dasari's acting career! (Dasari, as usual as it may seem, denies the fact that the film was a washout.) Sunil Kumar Reddy's Sontha Vooru got okay reviews but only L.B. Sriram shone through this film with his strikingly different getup and penning appreciable dialogues. Director Raj Aditya of Pourudu came up with Mallee Mallee that had a suicide backdrop, but sadly committed suicide himself on the day his film was released; the film was a flop too. Mee Sreyobhilashi fame Eswar Reddy's second venture Manorama with Charmme got mixed reviews and went silent at the end. Amma Rajashekar's Beebhatsam with his brother Yuvan in the lead had no takers either. Dil Raju's nearly-straight film Aakashamanta didn't seem to have worked out too. Thus, the month of March did not register a single hit for Tollywood. Due to the upcoming elections, stars are roaming all over the state and people are watching film stars in road shows and other public gatherings. Bad films and exams add up as more reasons that all finally rendered theaters nearly empty. The same situation might prevail until elections are done with.
Only one director debuted this month - Nagendra Kumar ( Naa Girlfriend Baagaa Rich), but flopped, as there was nothing novel in the film. There is no single hit in this month.
Abroad BO
Dasari Narayana Rao himself released Mesthri abroad. The film registered itself as the first ever Telugu film to have its audio released in the USA too simultaneously, and there were several freebies and discounts announced for moviegoers too. Yet, the film didn't make any impact among the audiences abroad. Sontha Vooru was released abroad with a prize money offer of $500 too, but no one was ready to try their luck in theaters. Dil Raju's magic didn't work out well this time, as Aakashamanta failed to get even decent openings!
