Critics and viewers not on the same page

It seems critics and viewers don’t think alike since a few films which were panned by critics, later turned out to be blockbusters. Surely, young actor Naga Chaitanya must have heaved a sigh relief as his recent release `Rarandoi Veduka Chuddam’ is making a killing at the box-office, after going through some sleepless as critics tore it apart for its clichéd storyline and dreary screenplay but audience felt otherwise.

“It’s audience call that is crucial for a film’s success and we received overwhelming response,’ says director Kalyan Krishna, who was also a bit worried over initial poor critic ratings. “Review ratings are perspective of a particular individual but what counts at the end of the day is collective perspective,” he adds.

Similarly, spooky film `Shivalinga’ was taken to task by critics who described it as a ‘cliched fare’ but it minted good money. Even last year, big-ticket film `Sarrainodu’ and to some extent `A Aa’ received lot of flak from critics and social media too but they garnered more than Rs 110 crore together in two Telugu states and other centres.

“At times, reviews are rubbished off as a personal viewpoint of a particular critic but still they do impact the opening collections and filmmakers are worried about ratings on reviews and some even manage to get better ratings to attract crowds, but at the end of the day, audience call is final” says director Teja.

Whereas, an overseas distributor, on condition of anonymity, says that bad reviews affect overseas collections in the US since viewers have to travel four hours to and fro to watch a film. “Reviews on the day of release affect overseas collections.

Since those viewers rely on reviews to step out of their homes since they have to spend almost half-a-day on road to watch a film and shell out 10 to 15 dollars per ticket, so critics play a key role to well-read overseas audience” he concludes.