An unfair bias?
Tollywood producers bemoan the situation where dubbed Tamil films are hits in the Telugu states, but there is no reciprocal eagerness for dubbed Telugu films in Tamil Nadu
With the fight between distributors of Telugu movies like Krack and Alludu Adhurs and dubbed Tamil movie Master taking an ugly turn last week, leading to personal attacks, Telugu film bigwigs are annoyed with our state audience’s fascination for Tamil stars.
Telugu makers claim that Tamil distributors pay just `1 crore or `2 crore for dubbing movies of Telugu superstars. Also, these films are not given proper theatres and publicity in Tamil Nadu, they allege.
On the other hand, Telugu distributors pay between `5 crore and `20 crore for dubbed movies of Rajnikanth, Vijay, Surya, Karthi and Dhanush among others, and give them a lot of theatres at the cost of Telugu movies at times, they add.
“We have to blame Telugu producers and distributors who are in a tearing hurry to buy dubbed Tamil movies and release them for festivals, eating into the revenues of Telugu movies,” rues leading producer Nallamallapu Bujji. “Tamil distributors or producers don’t show the same enthusiasm for dubbing Telugu movies despite having big stars. In fact, the budgets of some Telugu movies are more than Tamil movies but when it comes to dubbing, we get buyers for Hindi dubbing rights but definitely not from Chennai. Our guys have to think about this partiality,” he says.
The producer, who made movies with stars like Venkatesh (Lakshmi) and Allu Arjun (Race Gurram) wants to join the dubbing bandwagon.
“Maybe I’ll get more theatres if I get a dubbed movie, so I’m thinking of changing tracks,” he says.
On the other hand, distributor Abhishek Nama who has released dubbed movies of Tamil stars like Vikram and Prabhu Deva, says, “It’s a misconception that all dubbed Tamil movies mint money at the Telugu box office, since Telugu viewers patronise different themes. I agree that we pay Tamil producers anywhere between `5 crore and `20 crore
per film. Of course, Telugus are largehearted and welcome Tamil stars like Rajnikanth, Surya, Vishal, Karthi and now Vijay. But stars alone cannot guarantee success in the two Telugu states, as they also deliver flops.” He says that Telugu producers have to realise that competition is going to expand in the days to come.
Telugus
are large-hearted and welcome Tamil stars
like Rajnikanth, Surya, Vishal,
Karthi and now Vijay. But stars alone cannot guarantee success in the two Telugu
states Abhishek Nama,
Tamil viewers are quite demanding, so we have to package our Telugu movies better. Rather than blaming Tamilians, we have to correct ourselves and dish out exciting and novel content
Teja, director