Telugu films finding more buyers abroad
Hindi films are not the only Indian films that are finding a thriving market in various countries abroad. Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam films are coming up with a feisty competition as well. Tollywood films are doing reasonably well worldwide and this trend is helping them attract buyers overseas as well. Four Telugu films released on Sankranti this year and of them, three turned out to be big hits outside as well as in India. All four of them were successful if we add Nenu Sailaja to the list. There is no dearth of buyers who want to use this boom in overseas business as an advantage and rack up some big profits. They are constantly looking for films that show promise and are potentially appealing to the Indian audience abroad and buying them.
High prices for big releases
Many upcoming Telugu movies have already found buyers in the overseas market. However, three of the most awaited and talked about films in Tollywood, Sardaar Gabbar Singh, Baahubali 2 and Brahmotsavam were not sold to anybody for a long time. Baahubali 2 being unsold is still understandable as there is still a long time left before the film releases next year (2017). The other two are releasing in the summer of 2016 itself but are were unsold primarily because their extremely high prices. Most buyers were still taking their time to negotiate with the producers of the film and see if they could lower the cost. Makers of Sardaar Gabbar Singh were reported to quote the staggering price of eleven crores for overseas distribution rights and Brahmotsavam were going with an even higher thirteen crores.
However, Sardaar Gabbar Singh’s worldwide theatrical rights finally went to Eros International, an icon in the movie distribution business. Eros sold the regional rights to local distributors and the rights in the Nizam area were sold to Indra Films for a whooping twenty crore rupees. This is a new record for Pawan Kalyan’s Sardar as this is the second highest price for rights in the Nizam area for any Telugu film after Baahubali, who rights were sold to Dil Raju for 25 crores.
Sardaar Gabbar Singh features actors like Pawan Kalyan, Kajal Aggarwal, Raai Laxmi, Brahmanandad, Sharad Kelkar etc and is set to release in April this year. It is an action film and is expected to be a blockbuster hit.