Box-office - 2009

2009 Blockbusters:
1. Arundhati
2. Kick
3. Magadheera

Hits or Partial Hits:
1. Akashamanta
2. Billa
3. Ride
4. Gopi Gopika Godavari
5. Bendu Apparao RMP

Good openers that could not sustain till the end:
1. Maska
2. Bumper Offer
3. Arya 2

Telugu Cinema faced so many problems before, but this year the problems they had were a lot different from before. During the first half of the year, stars were busy with politics and elections, and most films had to stall their shootings and wait, as the stars roamed all over the state. Towards the fag end of the year, release of films was delayed or even stopped due to the political agitations pertaining to separate Telangana. Some films that announced their release date were postponed indefinitely! Even films already in the theaters were called off due to problems with the agitators. Shootings were disrupted, sets suffered arson, cast and crew were attacked, production/distribution offices were attacked and even taken over for a while. The list of atrocities goes on, giving sleepless nights to producers who loan money on high interest rates. The year had only three big hits Arundhathi, Kick, Magadheera but that's better than last year! On the other hand, this year also witnessed a lot of flops too! Interestingly, two dubbed films came up on the list of Telugu hit films this year. More interesting is that they were non-Indian! 2012 and Avatar became super-grosser dubbed films of the year, setting their own records and breaking records in some centers. While 150 directors debuted last year, nearly half of that number - 74, to be precise - ventured into the film industry in 2009. Only a few of them are worth-mentioning, though. Following is a monthwise review of Telugu Cinema last year.

January
While 2008 started with Posani Krishna Murali's Aapada Mokkula Vaadu, 2009 started with his 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 Parinayam with Tarun and Genelia in the lead but Tarun essentially only supporting her role until the climax. The film was just okay at the box-office. It set a new trend in Tollywood - the movie's original DVD released within 50 days and the film was even telecast by a TV channel within 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 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 in Telugu Cinema. The first 40-day run was tremendous but the collections 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... "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.

Other duds of the month: Mahanagaram lo... Shiva-Chandu, Muddabanthi, Police Adhikari, Fitting Master, Mister Gireesham, Dadagiri, Shh.. Idi Chaalaa Manchi Ooru, Nallabbaayi-Thellammaayi, Dhee Ante Dhee, BharathMahan.Com, Veta, Manjeera, Sreesailam.

Abroad BO: Sashirekha Parinayam was bought for around twenty five lakh rupees. Though distributors were safe, the exibitors sank into deep trouble with the film being a washout. Maska was bought for around 50 lakh rupees, and the film was a flop for everyone. Arundhati was bought for a whopping one crore rupees and everyone still made money on the film.

Blockbuster: Arundhati
Average: Maskaa, Sashirekha Parinayam
Super Dud: Masth

Debutant directors of the month: G.L.B. Srinivas (Mahanagaramlo... Shiva-Chandu), Harsha Reddy (Indumathi), Ramu (Police Adhikari), Ramana Mogili (Bhairavi), Nani Krishna (Nallabbaayi-Thellammaayi), Viswaprasad (Mister Gireesham), Paamu Seenu (Veta), Akula Raghava (BharatMahan.Com), Arunkumar (Bank), Saibhanu (Manjeera)

February
This month witnessed the release of 10 straight films. Konchem Ishtam Konchem Kashtam started with a 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. Rajasekhar's 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 even Siddharth himself?!

Debutant directors of the 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.

Average: Konchem Ishtam Konchem Kashtam
Super Duds: Drona, Sathyameva Jayathe

Abroad BO: 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.

March
Eight and a half straight films were released this month. (The 50% credit goes to partly-dubbed-partly-reshot Aakashamanta from Tamil.) 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's 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. With the general elections nearing schedule, stars were roaming all over the state and people were watching film stars in road shows and other public gatherings anyway. Bad films and exams added up as more reasons that all finally rendered theaters nearly empty.

Debutant directors of the month: Nagendra Kumar (Naa Girlfriend Baagaa Rich), Vaikunthalavya (Jajimalli)

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 overseas!

Average: Aakashamanta
Super Duds: Nearly every movie!

April
16 movies hit the silver screen in the month of April, just about 25% of which were straight Telugu films and the rest were dubbed from English or Tamil. Billa, a remake of legendary NTR's Yugandhar but titled following the Tamil versions from the long past and recent past, was made with a huge budget. It was released amidst huge expectations, but the film's result was not anywhere comparable. From the title and to shot division and camera angles, director Meher Ramesh dished out a merely a faithful copy of the newer Tamil version. Prabhas looked stylish and handsome in his attire of an international don, and Anushka was glamorous too. With these aspects as its "plus points", the film could barely scramble to be an average fare. NRI Narendranath’s Nene Mukhyamantrinaithe... is a disaster from the word go. It created some hype due to censor problems. But, at the end, it was just a damp squib. (Oh, yeah, the film did come to the theaters... in case you didn't know!) Mumait Khan's Punnami Nagu created much curiosity for her bikini posters and once-crazy combination of Kodandarami Reddy and Yandamuri Virendranath. The film was however a big letdown to everyone, as the once-successful combination was unable to keep up with the present trend, resulting in a disaster. Director Samudra gave an average film with Adhinetha. After a hat-trick of flops like Vijayadasami, Mallepuvvu, and Venkatadri, he churned out another average fare with Adhinetha, which is said to be a freemake of a Marathi film. (Samudra even revealed that the story, originally titled Adhinayakudu, was written for Chiranjeevi first.) The film was supposed to release before the polls in Andhra Pradesh but was somehow released only after the polls. Another film which bit dust in this month is Circus Circus. While the five straight Telugu films were mostly damp at the box-office, 11 films were dubbed into Telugu and released in the month of April: Vishwa (Surya, Sridevi), Ajeyudu (Tony Jha), Andadu-Agadu (Fast and Furious), Ananda Thandavam (Siddarth Venugopal, Tamannah), Seenugadu Maha Muduru (Dhanush, Shriya), Jai Sambasiva (Arjun, Saikumar, Pooja Gandhi), Kalasala (Tamannah), Pandugadu (Shivarajkumar, Hansika), etc. Only three films - Ananda Thandavam, Kalasala, and Seenugadu Maha Muduru - created some interest due to their casting, but even those three failed to click at the box-office.

While less number of films in April was indeed expected due to the elections, a nearly completely damp month just before summer was a blow to Tollywood.

Debutant directors of the month: Narendhranath (Nene Mukhyamantrinaithe...), Umesh kumar. S (Circus Circus)

Abroad BO: The only film that made its way to theaters abroad was Billa. Bought for 46 lakh rupees (for 11 prints), the film could not break even either! The overseas distributors lost a few lakh rupees on the whole.

Average: Billa, Adhinetha
Super Duds: Punnami Nagu