Favouring the neighbouring...
“After Bangalore, Hyderabad has become a cosmopolitan city. Marathi, Kannada and Malayalam movies have done well, so we have to be prepared for stiff competition at the ticket windows,” he reasons.
On Telugu stars being unable to penetrate into Tamil Nadu over the years, director Teja says, “Probably, they are content with their stardom in Telugu and focus on promoting their movies in the two Telugu states, unlike Tamil star Vijay Sethupathi, who is doing straight Telugu films like Sye Raa… and Uppena along with his Tamil movies.” He goes on to express the view that “Tamil viewers are quite demanding, so we have to package our Telugu movies better.” Besides, Tamil viewers don’t take star-centric movies seriously but prefer script-driven movies, he feels, adding, “Another reason could be that Tamil stars like Vijay, Jayam Ravi, Karthi and Dhanush have remade successful Telugu films to help their careers.”
“Nonetheless, rather than blaming Tamilians, we have to correct ourselves and dish out exciting and novel content,” stresses Teja.
Agreeing with this view, veteran Tamil producer Keyaar says Tamilians are open-minded and like to watch exciting dubbed Telugu films. “Even recent release Ala Vaikuntapurammulo did roaring business in Tamil Nadu. In fact, Baahubali grossed Rs 75 crore in Tamil Nadu alone, while sensational movies like Arjun Reddy and Arundathi struck a chord with Tamil audiences,” he points out. “Frankly, Telugu stars have to promote their films in Tamil Nadu in a big way by staying in Chennai for couple of days, instead of releasing it as just another dubbed movie,” he feels. “It is true that Tamil viewers have begun to watch Telugu movies with some interest these days. So, it’s high time that stars like Mahesh Babu, Allu Arjun, and Vijay Devarakonda take steps to expand their markets in Tamil Nadu by spending more time and money to strengthen their fans base among Tamil viewers. It is more to do with strategy and commitment than anything else,” he says. Keyaar also notes that there only 1000-odd screens in Tamil Nadu, making it difficult to accommodate movies in other languages at times.
Talking about the tastes of Telugu viewers, young Tamil director Eashvar Karthic, whose recent movie Penguin starring Keerthy Suresh was released in Telugu too, says “Although I received mixed response for my nail-biting thriller, I am aware that modern Telugu audiences are game for variety.” Pointing out that “My colleague and director Lokesh Kanagaraj has delivered back-to-back hits Khaidi and Master in the two Telugu states,” Karthic says “Every director would like to grab more eyeballs and films are meant to break regional and global barriers to expand viewership base.”
Although I received mixed response for my nail-biting thriller, I am aware that modern Telugu audiences are game. Every director would like to grab more eyeballs and films are meant to break regional and global barriers to expand viewership base.” — Eashvar Karthic, Tamil
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