Telugu cinema in 2019: Much-awaited movies have mixed luck at Box Office

A total of 194 films were released in Telugu in both the states and all across the world in 2019, according to Wikipedia listing. While 129 of them were straight releases, 65 were dubbed ones. Out of this, 33 were Tamil dubbing flicks, followed by surprisingly 18 Hollywood dubs, five each from Hindi and Kannada and four from Malayalam.

The top 10 hits were a mixed bag – from Hollywood-style thrillers to historicals at one end and sports-based themes to puerile action flick on the other. The year saw many much-awaited films get released to varying responses at the BO.

If Prabhas managed to sail the rough waters across the country with his 'Saaho' getting better response outside the state than inside, Chiranjeevi proved that he could still pull in the crowds with his much-hyped historical ' SyeRaaNarasimha Reddy' which did solid business and consolidated his presence at the top once again.

His counterparts – Venkatesh, Balakrishna and Nagarjuna – all had mixed luck. While the Daggubati scion managed two notable films with 'F2' and 'Venky Mama' with the first one doing good business and emerging a surprising Sankranti hit, Balakrishna's two releases on the life and times of his illustrious father, NTR did not appeal. The same was the case with political biographies on the late YSR and the Lakshmi Parvathi-oriented tribute to her husband, helmed by the maverick director RGV. Report about Balayya's recent release 'Ruler' too are mixed at the time of writing. A political movie on the caste politics of AP titled ' AmmaRajyamlo, Kadapa Biddalu', which underwent a name change was rejected by the audience for its infantile approach and clumsy name-calling, despite publicity tactics by RGV till the release of the film.

Nagarjuna, who wished to reprise his erstwhile hit ' Manmadhudu' released more than a decade ago, crashed at the box office with its sequel, which was criticised for the yawning age gap between him and his heroine, younger than his eldest son.

The younger star scions like Naga Chaitanya, Varun Tejetc managed a hit each with ' Majili' and 'Gaddalakonda Ganesh' while the likes of Nani and Ram Pothineni too stayed in the limelight with 'Jersey' and ' iSmart Shankar' respectively.

As far as dubbed films went, the box-office status of Vijay, who scored a hat-trick of hits with 'Whistle' overtook that of Superstar Rajini himself as ' Petta', despite a high watchability quotient did not manage to rake in the big bucks. Karthi was very well appreciated for ' Khaidi' even as his elder brother Suriya's flicks crashed. Dubbed ventures of Malayalam matinee idols like Mohan Lal and Mammooty were released but did not impress the locals.