100-cr budget: New buzzword in T-town

Undoubtedly, T-town superstars are shaken up a bit with the unprecedented success of ‘Baahubali’ franchise which was made with Rs 250-crore budget, and are reportedly pushing the budgets of their upcoming films to match the magnum opus.

Apparently, producers N V Prasad and Tagore Madhu are reportedly pumping in more than Rs 100 crore for their upcoming film “SPYder’ with superstar Mahesh Babu since hotshot director Murugadoss is canning slam bang action episodes, lavish songs and CG work in a massive scale and even reportedly doing few re-shoots to hit bull’s eye at the box-office.

Followed by Power Star Pawan Kalyan’s -Trivikram’s untitled film which is also expected to cross the magic three-figure mark since the last film of the heady duo was ‘Attarintiki Daaredi’ which was a industry top grosser before `Baahubali’ overtook it. “Pawan-Trivikram combination spells box-office magic and when they come together, the expectations soar high and budget can be expanded’ adds Bogavali Prasad.

Buoyed by the smashing hit ‘Khaidi No 150’, reigning star and producer Ram Charan is set to dig deep into his pockets to invest more than Rs 125 crore for his production ‘Uyyalavada Narasimha Reddy’, starring his dad and megastar Chiranjeevi who is essaying a role of a fiery freedom fighter.

No prizes for guessing, if UV creations are projecting their upcoming film ‘Sahoo’ with action star Prabhas as more than a Rs 100 crore extravaganza since `Baahubali’ star’s charisma has expanded beyond Indian shores.

“Prabhas is the most happening star at the moment and his popularity is at its peak and there are many takers for his larger-than-life films across the world,” says a distributor.

Even producers of Jr NTR’s next film ‘Jai Lava Kusa’ are also pushing the envelope to dish out a big budget action adventure since NTR is riding high on back-to-back money-spinners ‘Nannokku Prematho’ and ‘Janatha Garage’.

However, summing up the craze for Rs 100 crore budgets for T-town superstars, leading overseas distributor Rajkumar adds “It’s not surprising since charisma of Telugu superstars is growing by the day since Telugu films have enough potential but rarely exploited to the hilt.

We should market and promote every film in a big way, besides releasing it in virgin overseas locales and tapping the markets down south and pan-India.” he concludes.