2020 might have become a nightmare for many people especially, film industry related technicians, creative teams, writers, directors, exhibitors, distributors and producers. But the year started off with two massive hits and trade expected the year to be a massive turnaround from the losses that Industry faced in previous years.
No one expected what we are going through to be the ultimate truth. But as Sun rises in the East everyday, we too have to move on with life, no matter what, taking precautions. So, what are the Top 10 grossers of Telugu Cinema at Indian Box Office? Let’s find out.
Note: We did not include Overseas collections for any film.
We may not see a movie that can beat the phenomenal success of this movie in Indian Cinema, in coming 5 to 6 years, unless RRR or Prabhas21 or some Hindi film just become a rage in every market like this one did. Even SS Rajamouli might not be sure about repeating this film’s feat at the box office in coming years. He might have targeted 1000-1200 crores gross, globally, for his two hero patriotic saga – RRR, with Jr. NTR and Ram Charan coming together for the first time.
Well, people took a great liking to the first part so much that #WKKB, itself was enough for this film promotions. People wanted to know when the movie is coming, they wanted to know how the story will end and they particularly wanted to know, “Why Kattappa Killed Baahubali?” Prabhas became a sensational star Pan-India with the film and he might have never dreamt that such big film will fall in his lap.
Movie collected Rs. 1720 crores gross in Indian markets and only in Hindi, it netted Rs. 520 crores gross, approximately. In Telugu states, movie marginally fell short of Rs. 200 crores share and it became profitable to everyone involved.
Whenever you consider to make a film – any film, you think about the references around the world or seek lessons from old films in that language. You would like to avoid the mistakes of old films and you want to develop new stories, scenes, sequences or follow the originals and execute the set order to the best of your ability, in your own way. Trivikram Srinivas kind of a writer-director tries to do this alot and generally, Telugu Cinema directors tend to follow a set pattern by big filmmakers from the past in their own way. It is nothing but what we loving call, “Formula” cinema.
There are experts in such formula cinemas and SS Rajamouli executes it better than any present filmmaker in Indian Cinema. He loves to look at the patterns set by seniors and then either follows them or bends them slightly, to fit his narrative. But he never leaves the “Formula”. With Baahubali, he showed to the World, power of Indian formula cinema. He executed each and every sequence on a scale that many fear to even imagine. He while followed some set patterns in screenplay, broke many and ultimately, created his own beast. Prabhas, Rana, Ramyakrishnan, Anushka Shetty, Satyaraj, Nasser and Tamanna will be highly pleased to be part of this film and franchise, as they all were able to make a name for themselves globally.
Movie found slightly negative word of mouth in Telugu upon release on the first two days but then it settled into a highly positive feedback and found appreciation, all India wide. It grossed Rs. 586 crores from Indian market and Satellite TV shows of the film made it even more popular that the second part could triple the returns. In Telugu markets, the movie share is close to Rs. 140 crores.
Prabhas became an All-India Star hero, a first for any Telugu actor. Nagarjuna could achieve some level of success in Hindi post Shiva, but he couldn’t pierce into Tamil or Malayalam markets, like Baahubali did. Saaho showed how much people loved Baahubali franchise and how much they loved Prabhas in that character.
Once you connect with an actor in a certain character, then you love to worship them as your idol, as the impact of that character doesn’t leave you. Indian Cinema saw many matinee idols because of this nature. After Keelu Gurram and Palnati Yuddham, ANR became a star but Devadasu made him a household name. Similarly, NTR found unprecedented following post Mayabazaar as people were mesmerised by his screen presence as Lord Krishna, even though Patala Bhairavi made him a recognisable hero. James Bond films gave Krishna an image but Alluri Seetharamaraju made him the Superstar. Chiranjeevi’s career can be divided as pre-Khaidi and post-Khaidi. Nagarjuna saw super stardom after Shiva and we can give many more examples.
Coming to the box office performance, Saaho lost money to many distributors even though it collected Rs. 432 crores gross at the box office in India. Young director Sujeeth couldn’t handle the screenplay of the movie properly, with everything under the sun, at his disposal. Telugu version of Saaho collected close to Rs. 90 crores, share and still lost money!
Well, after what seems like a Prabhas dominated start, we have a film from another star hero, Allu Arjun. Until Sarrainodu movie, Allu Arjun saw a consistent market growth but this one bumped him into Top draw. That made him concentrate on building his market in mass areas of Telugu states with his next two films. They did not repeat the massive success of Sarrainodu and hence, the actor took a break and waited for Trivikram Srinivas, to complete his other film, Aravinda Sametha with Jr. NTR.
Movie showed first signs of being a special one with the audio composed by SS Thaman. Each song became a viral hit, starting with “Samajavaragamana”. When everyone thought the film might be a mild success at box office, it just blew everyone’s expectations out of proportion and collected Rs. 260 crores gross at Indian markets, approximately.
If Telugu Cinema Industry can be hopeful about a revival post Covid pandemic, then that should be credited to this film, and the next one, as their huge box office run during Sankranthi season has given a lasting hope to producers. Pooja Hegde, Sushanth, Navdeep, Rajendra Prasad, Jayaram, Tabu, Sachin Khelkar, Samuthirakani, Nivetha Pethuraj, Sunil, Harshavardhan, Brahmanandam (cameo) were part of the film.
Sarileru Neekevvaru started off Sankranthi 2020, in a huge way and it continued to have a great run at the box office even though Ala Vaikuntapuramulo kind of a big blockbuster challenged, its run to the core. Both the films collected such phenomenal revenues that after a long time, everyone involved in the movie business from Telugu states, could afford to laugh their way to the bank.
Anil Ravipudi showed that he can handle a star hero like Mahesh Babu in a mass entertainer and as a writer-director, he is now among the top draw. Vijayashanthi, Rashmika Mandanna, Rajendra Prasad, Sangeetha, Prakash Raj, Vennela Kishore are part of the film. Return of a senior star actress, who could deliver hits with lady oriented mass movies like Vijayashanthi proved to be an asset for the film. It collected close to Rs. 248 crores gross, say sources.
Megastar Chiranjeevi wanted a film that can be his Baahubali and hence, he chose a patriotic period drama like Sye Raa Narsimha Reddy. Paruchuri Brothers wanted him to do the film before his political entry but he did it, after the long one decade hiatus. Still, movie opened to massive response from crowds and became a memorable film for the actor.
Being in production for 2 and half years, bringing in actors like Jagapathi Babu, Nayantara, Tamanna, Sudeep and Vijay Sethupathi did increase the cost of production for producer, Ram Charan. Director Surender Reddy did deliver some high volatile action scenes but he couldn’t push the drama in the story to next level for the film to achieve Pan-India success. Still, it grossed Rs. 240. 5 crores from its theatrical run.
Ram Charan might tell to his grandkids that he either had phenomenal Industry Hit range blockbusters or average grossers while failures are common for any. It is difficult to imagine a hero delivering Magadheera in 2009 and then, Rangasthalam in 2018 with not many super successful blockbusters in-between.
The story of the film might be what we normally find at school plays, but the execution was top notch. Sukumar presented his hero with a defect and that is something very fresh in Telugu Cinema for a star hero’s big budget flick. Ram Charan lived in the character of Chitti Babu and Samantha Akkineni, Naresh, Adhi Pinisetty, Prakash Raj supported him, really well. Hence, the movie had a phenomenal run at the box office and collected Rs. 216 crores gross.
Mahesh Babu had to continue his successful run at the box office after Bharat Ane Nenu broke his disastrous run. On top of that, Maharshi was his 25th film as a lead actor, discounting all the films he did as an young actor. Movie had great expectations to reach and fans wanted it to be a memorable celebration.
But on the first day, they expressed disappointment about the film and it’s screenplay. They felt like they watched two or three films combined into one and even critics, remarked the same. Still, Mahesh Babu core audiences among the families lapped it up and hence, the movie collected Rs. 168 crores gross at the box office. Pooja Hegde, Allari Naresh, Jagapathi Babu, Prakash Raj and Jayasudha were part of this Vamshi Paidipally directorial.
Megastar Chiranjeevi announced his return to films with this massive hit. Even though movie was a remake of Thalapathy Vijay’s Kaththi, Telugu people lapped up this movie, just to watch Megastar on screen again. Director VV Vinayak delivered a decent entertainer with Megastar as the lead even though he followed his previous films pattern.
The movie can be remarked as an one-man show and that worked brilliantly for Megastar to announce his return back to the films. Kajal Aggarwal joined Chiranjeevi in songs and all songs composed by Devi Sri Prasad became a hit lending their hand in the success. Movie collected a gross of Rs. 164 crores.
Rounding off the Top 10 list is the movie by Mahesh Babu, Bharat Ane Nenu. After a success like Srimanthudu which helped Mahesh to give a success post two back to back disasters, Koratala Siva again delivered under pressure. Movie had to be a definite hit for the Superstar and it came out with massive amount of expectations.
Film did not disappoint fans even though it did not reach the heights of Srimanthudu. It got good support from family audiences and even with competition from Rangasthalam, movie thrived at the box office to collect Rs. 149 crores gross. Kiara Advani, Prakash Raj, “Bommali” Ravi Shankar and Rao Ramesh were part of this political drama.
With Inflation Added, Just for Fun
Top 5 grossers of Telugu Cinema, ever
Film Gross
Lavakusa – 969 Crores
Mayabaazar – 867 Crores
Premaabhishekam – 765 Crores
Alluri Seeta Rama Raju – 756 Crores
Devadasu – 737 Crores
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