Tovino Thomas became a popular hero not just in the Malayalam film industry but also among Telugu audiences with his unique choice of films and performances. His latest movie is Pallichattambi, which created some hype, but it was restricted to only his core Malayalam audience. In this film, Kayadu Lohar plays the female lead opposite Tovino Thomas. The movie is directed by Dijo Antony.
According to Malayalam film circles, Pallichattambi was made with a budget of around Rs. 45 crores. Due to Tovino Thomas’s popularity and decent hype, the film did good theatrical and non-theatrical business. Trade analysts say the movie needs to collect around Rs. 60 crore gross collections at the box office to be considered a success.
However, the film received flop talk in Malayalam on the first day of release. This marks back-to-back failures for Tovino Thomas after Identity and Narivetta, and now Pallichattambi.
The movie is managing some collections only in Kerala, but in other regions, occupancy is poor. The Telugu version is set to release on April 17, and this negative talk may impact its box office collections in Telugu. Trade experts believe that if Pallichattambi got flop talk on day one in Malayalam itself, its chances in the Telugu market look very weak. Currently, only the Malayalam version is playing in Andhra and Telangana.
Tovino Thomas recently said that he had to walk out of Jr. NTR’s film Dragon. He explained that in Malayalam cinema, movies are usually shot in one continuous schedule and completed quickly. But big Telugu films like Dragon are shot over multiple schedules across a long period, which does not suit his preferred working style.
Now, after the failure of Pallichattambi, Telugu cinema fans are trolling him back. They are saying it is better to do one good quality film in 1 to 2 years rather than doing multiple flop films like Pallichattambi, Identity, and Narivetta every six months.
