Telugu Cinema is now aiming high after the unimaginable success of the Baahubali franchise in North India. It gave Prabhas and Rajamouli huge stardom across India, which then translated into box-office numbers as Saaho turned out to be a huge hit in North with its Hindi version collecting more than 200cr.
However, all is not gloom as many movies have failed to make a mark despite going that way with the latest being Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy which also went Pan-India with a diverse cast but failed to make a mark in other languages. It turned out to be a disaster in the North.
Even if we go a couple of years back, Ram Charan tried the same with Zanjeer and that was a total wipe out as it’s Telugu version also failed miserably. However, with the recent successes of Baahubali, Saaho, 2.0, and even KGF up to a certain extent almost every big film is now targeting a Pan-India release but will it work?
It has been revealed that RRR, Pushpa, Fighter and few other movies will release Pan-India. It is understandable that RRR will release throughout India owing to the popularity of Rajamouli, but why are other movies trying to please the audience throughout India. Allu Arjun does have some reach outside the Telugu states in Karnataka and Kerala, but does it warrant a release throughout India.
Actors like Vijay Deverakonda, Nithiin, Nikhil and Manoj are also trying to increase their reach. It is likely that most of the films will drop the idea by the time of the release but at least for now, they claim that their film is Pan-India and maybe the makers have a feeling that attaching that word to the film will give it more media attention.
Anyways back to the topic, it’s not so easy to crack the right formula of a Pan-India film and Baahubali is the only big film to achieve that. Although Saaho succeded in the North, it turned to be a failure in Telugu. There is no doubt that Saaho would have pleased the local audience if the treatment was similar to maybe a ‘Mirchi’ but that would have meant that the North Indian audience might have stayed away.
The same thing happened to 2.0 as it collected big in North India and failed to perform in its local market. So, makers should concentrate on finding the right balance between having the local flavor and having a scale that would pull in the audience nationwide just like Baahubali did.
Baahubali was basically a Telugu film which had a scale and story to please everyone. Saaho felt too complicated for the local audience because the maker’s concentration was on making it acceptable throughout the country. Coming to Sye Raa’s failure it was more to do with the recognisability factor as Chiranjeevi is relatively unknown in the North and his age doesn’t appeal to the younger audience.
Going Pan-India is not necessarily bad and increases the reach of Telugu Cinema beyond its borders but the makers should be extra careful to choose the right concept before making the jump else they will end up making a product which pleases no one.
