Flawed business module ruining Tollywood: Distributors

Leading distributors, who burnt their hands in big ticket movies, urge the Telugu filmmakers to shun 'flawed' business module to revive the sagging fortunes of Telugu film industry.

These days, T-town stars and producers sell their movies basing on the figures of previous blockbusters of superstars which has gone terribly wrong.

In fact, disributors claim that producers and distributors are indulging in a gambling of sorts by exchanging exorbitant sums and pushing themselves into the brink.

"Our superstars and producers presume that their every film will be a blockbuster and sell their films on a price that their last film grossed, which is more of gambling.

As a result, distributors and exhibitors have burnt their fingers badly as 20-odd big films bombed at the box office," laments distributor Trinath, who said that the collections of a flop film of a particular star should be the 'yardstick' since blockbusters are an exception.

"Even in Hindi and Tamil films, the base price is decided mutually by the producer and distributor but in Telugu, big producers fix the price and distributors have to take it or leave it," rues distributor Visweshwar Rao, who feels that in days comes to independent distributors will vanish into thin air.

For intance, two big films which were sold for more than Rs 100 core in two Telugu states, but they couldn't touch the winning mark. "Genuinely distributors have lost some money in these two films but they can't really speak out.

Barring 'Bahubali 2' which collected more than Rs 150 crore, no other Telugu film had the stamina to surpass Rs 100 crore net collections in the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh," informs distributor Janardhan Rao and adds "With first three days collections becoming crucial as they determine the fate of Telugu movie, it is high time prices are cut down to moderate rates.

More than 60 to 70 distributors have gone out of business with heavy losses this year.

Digital screenings of new movies have added to our woes and old module has to be scrapped," opines Janardhan Rao, who wants producers of star-studded films to re-think their strategy before it is too late.

Another distributor Rama Rao, adds, "These days, we have no average grossers because either it's a hit or a dud, so we need to find a middle path and sell films on recoverable rates to save the industry from sinking further," he adds.

"Actually, few inexperienced politicians and realtors turned distributors and bought films for big prices without basic knowledge of film business and made the lives of established distributors miserable." concludes Trinath.