Summer Holidays was supposed to release last month but was pushed back because of Aadarsha Kutumbam AK47. The film finally reached theatres this week and received decent feedback. However, the makers are disappointed with the poor collections.
Producer Dheeraj Mogilineni promoted the film well, but audiences seem more interested in Ramayana and Suriya’s Scene this weekend. Both are dubbed films. This has led the Summer Holidays team to question why Telugu audiences are showing interest in other-language films but not supporting their own.
Actor Rohan even compared Summer Holidays to a diamond that audiences are ignoring while searching for gold in Tamil and Malayalam cinema. Dheeraj also said, “There is no use when you watch the film later on OTT and share tweets about it.”
But this argument misses the point. Telugu audiences are not rejecting their own cinema and blindly choosing dubbed films. They are choosing films based on their interest, irrespective of language. Just because a film is made in Telugu does not mean audiences must watch it in theatres.
Telugu audiences regularly watch Malayalam films, not in theatres but on OTT. The same applies to Tamil cinema. Not every Tamil film gets accepted in Telugu. Even films like Dorothy and Baththa found their audience through OTT and not in theatres.
The makers should also ask what happened to Telugu films like Rao Bahadur and Sree Vishnu’s Swag. Both received praise from a section of social media, but did they find similar acceptance beyond the Telugu states on OTT? No. Social media appreciation does not automatically translate into actual viewership, either in theatres or on OTT.
Producers need to understand that audiences are free to choose what they want to watch. They cannot blame viewers every time a film fails to bring them collections. Calling a film a classic does not make it one.
If Summer Holidays is genuinely good, positive word of mouth can bring more audiences to theatres. But producers must respect the audience’s judgment instead of questioning their choices or blaming them for not watching their film. Blaming the audience will not improve collections. Making films that audiences want to watch will.
