Overpricing of films pushes industry to the brink

Its high time that T-town stars and producers devise a new strategy of doing business as their time-tested formula of selling films, basing on the figures of previous blockbusters of superstars has gone terribly wrong. In fact, T-town producers and distributors are indulging in a gambling of sorts by exchanging exorbitant sums pushing themselves into the brink.

According to film industry sources, T-town stars and producers sell the films of superstars Pawan Kalyan, Mahesh Babu, Allu Arjun, Jr NTR and Ravi Teja basing on the ‘collections’ of their earlier blockbusters, a plan which has gone awfully wrong. “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 the films bombed at the box office ,” laments distributor Trinath of Nizam region, who said that the collections of a flop film of a particular star should be the ‘yardstick’ since blockbusters are an exception.

“These days, we have no average grossers, so, either it’s a hit or a dud, so we need to find a middle path and sell films on moderate rates to save the industry from sinking further,” he adds.

Leaving aside countless number of flops last year, this year alone, the Telugu film industry has witnessed massive flops like 'Agnyaathavasi,’ 'Touch Chesi Choodu,' and 'Intelligent,' in which buyers lost more than Rs 70 crore together, distributors feel that these above-mentioned big films are good enough for the industry to wake up from the slumber since they lost huge sums with the flawed business module.

“These three big films were sold in Nizam, Andhra and Ceded regions besides overseas at fancy prices, matching to the collections of their previous hits. Hoping that they would turn into blockbusters, the distributors and exhibitors sank under burden of mounting debts.

A few inexperienced politicians and realty giants are also buying films for big prices and ruining the industry,’ rues Ramakrishna, distributor of Chittoor.

However, senior producer Prakash Reddy, recalls the strategy adopted by legendary NTR and ANR to tide over crisis situations in the past. “For some time, when industry was going through lean phase, NTR and ANR took home just Rs 10,000 per film, even though their market price was Rs 3 lakh.

Also, they ensured that the budget was under control to help producers and distributors to have a longer innings in the industry. On the contrary, the new-age stars and directors have no such plans and are shooting up the budgets above Rs 100 crore more as a prestige issue than for the actual expenses, which is an unhealthy practice.

The strategy is putting a hole in the pockets of producers, distributors and exhibitors. In this bleak scenario, stars and technicians are making tonnes of money while forcing the producers to sell their houses and properties to clear their debts," rues Ashok Reddy.