When Tollywood tunes didn't mesmerise box-office

There was not much of a solace for the already bruised fortunes of the Telugu film industry in 2004. Despite a record number of 175 releases at a cost of about Rs 350 crore, most of the films bombed at the box office and a smattering few tasted success.

The reasons for this kind of debacle were not far to see "� burgeoning production costs and actor salaries, poor stories and even poorer scripts contributed in equal measure.

Top actors like Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna, Nagarjuna and Venkatesh failed to enthuse the fortunes of the industry and the results were devastating "� Tollywood incurred a net loss of close to Rs 200 crore in 2004.

The industry actually started off 2004 on the wrong foot. Junior NTR, a grandson of former chief minister, Telugu Desam founder and yesteryear actor N T Rama Rao, saw his Rs 14 crore movie Andhrawala bomb on January 1. The film was such a disaster that the actor had to do one more film, Samba, to compensate the distributors.

Then came mega star Chiranjeevi's much-awaited Anji. The Rs 28-crore film, which took nearly six years to complete, hit the screen with a record 303 prints on January 15. In spite of its mind-boggling graphics and huge star cast, the film fell flat.

Lady luck though refused to smile and the miserable run continued. Balakrishna, N T Rama Rao's son, saw his Rs 10-crore Lakshmi Narasimha bomb. This was followed by a slew of duds that included the Rs 12-crore Nani, the Rs 20-crore Arjun and the Rs 10-crore Sri Anjaneyam.

The run of flops stopped when Varsham set the cash registers ringing. Another three movies Malleswari, Nenunnanu and Arya worked well with the distributors while Chiranjeevi's Shankar Dada MMBS and Nagarjuna's latest release Mass is continuing to do well.

One of the year's biggest surprises was Anand, a film made on a shoestring budget of less than Rs 1 crore. The film raked in close to Rs 95 lakh in 50 days in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. The film was later released in other parts of the state and looks to enjoy a 100-day run across the state.

With more and more movies bombing at the box office and with the industry incurring losses to the tune of Rs 200 crore, Tollywood producers are now calling for a cut in everyone's remuneration including top stars. While Chiranjeevi reportedly charges between Rs 5 crore and Rs 7 crore for a movie, Nagarjuna and Pawan Kalyan are taking home Rs 4 crore each. Venkatesh, Mahesh Babu, Balakrishna, Jr NTR too charge around Rs 3 crore each.

In a bid to cut production costs, the producers are now asking everyone across the industry to reduce their fee by 20 per cent. "Earlier, remuneration of artistes and technicians' used to be 33 per cent of the cost of production. Now it has gone up to 70 per cent of the cost of production," says a producer.

"Due to this, instead of the Rs 3-7 crore that top stars like Chiranjeevi, Venkatesh and Nagarjuna reportedly charge, the actors will now take home about Rs 1 crore less. The price cut is likely to come into effect from 2005," he said.

While the fortunes of their movies may have been on a downslide, quite a few actors marked their foray into business in 2004. Actor Nagarjuna opened the 'Touche' lounge bar and restaurant at Banjara Hills.

Villain-turned-character-actor Giri Babu opened the 'Haveli' supermarket on the outskirts of the city while actress Raasi opened a beauty parlour at the tony Banjara Hills.

The debacle of 2004 has not slowed down the industry though. A couple of mega budget movies are slated for release in early 2005. While Pawan Kalyan's Rs 15-crore Baalu is slated for a January 6 release, Dhairyam starring Nitin and Raima Sen will be released on January 26 and Venkatesh's Subhash Chandra Bose would be releasing on April 20.

The other projects that will go on floor in 2005 include Nagarjuna's Rs 16-crore movie being produced on Annapoorna Studio's banner, Chiranjeevi's Jai Chiranjeeva, Prabhas' Chatrapati among others.

Clearly the show must go on!