Tollywood’s report card for the first half of 2009 has’'t been the stuff reel (or even real) dreams are made up of. A blockbuster in the first month of the year should have been an encouraging beginning, but the economic slowdown and IPL matches seemed to have spoiled T-town’s party, as the film industry could only garner about Rs 90 crore in revenues. Of the 60-odd releases to have hit the screens until June 2009, very few could actually hit the BO jackpot. Some just about managed to recover their production costs. Not that content was predictable.

In fact the platter was fairly diverse — action films (Drona and Naa Style Veru), horror (Indumathi and Diary), love stories (Sasirekha Parinayam and Boni), star-studded flicks (Mithrudu) and even family sagas (Bangaru Babu). But the audience rejected them downright. Things could have gotten worse had it not been for films like Billa, Kick, Ride and Prayanam which got big openings. If Billa didn’t end up as a blockbuster like its Bollywood original Don, actor Prabhaas confesses, “blockbusters happen” sometimes. Kick which was a comeback vehicle for Ileana and Ravi Teja was a surprise hit. “We knew the film would be a hit but the overwhelming response surprised us,” says filmmaker Surender Reddy.
Filmmaker Chandrasekar Yeleti’s small-budget teenage romance Prayanam also struck a chord with the audience. “I wanted to try out a lighthearted movie,” says Yeleti, adding that the film raked in big bucks right from the first day first show. “Everything fell in place to make it a winner,” adds actress Aksha. While Kochem Ishtam Konchem Kashtam just broke even, other Tamil films didn’t set cash registers ringing. Barring Veedokkade (which had a good opening) and Akasamantha, other films couldn’t really make a big impact at the box-office, as Kalasala, Pista, Ananthapuram 1980 and Ananda Tandavam bit the dust.

Seasoned producer MS Raju feels Tollywood needs bigger hits. “Blockbusters will not happen every day but we should try novel themes. Any film that connects to the audience will be a winner,” he says.
Considering the second half of 2009 has plenty of starry action from NTR Jr, Mahesh Babu, Pawan Kalyan, Ram Charan Tej and Allu Arjun, hopefully, the report card will be rosier by the year-end. So keep the bubbly ready and keep praying for the hits to start raining.........