After a disastrous summer, Tollywood slowly recovered. A series of successful films brought back some energy to the box office. Peddi ended up as average at the box office, but it started the trend of audiences coming back to cinemas. Then films like Maa Inti Bangaram, Lenin, Korean Kanakaraju, Chennai Love Story, Viswanath & Sons and Irumudi kept the momentum going.
Irumudi, in particular, turned out to be a sensation. These consecutive successes brought a fresh look to the Telugu film industry and raised hopes for the following months.
September also came with high expectations, especially from The Paradise. But the month failed to deliver a clean hit.
Romanchakam, Ramba Oorvashi Menaka, Sardar, Epic and The Paradise were among the releases that carried different levels of expectations. Yet none of them managed to emerge as a clean theatrical hit.
Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s production Romanchakam flopped miserably. Allari Naresh’s Ramba Oorvashi Menaka turned into another disaster.
Karthi’s Sardar 2 had some curiosity among Telugu audiences despite being a dubbed film. But extremely bad writing and poor direction left audiences frustrated. The film turned out to be a washout not only in Telugu but also in Tamil.
Epic had an even worse fate. The film failed to connect with the youth and became easy social media troll material.
Then came the much-hyped Nani-Srikanth Odela film The Paradise, which had enormous pre-release hype. But everything changed after the premiere shows.
The film received extremely negative reviews. The film was judged harshly for its writing, performances, violence and overall execution. Yet The Paradise did not collapse immediately.
Normally, such negative talk would destroy a big film’s theatrical run from day one. But The Paradise managed to put up decent numbers during its opening weekend, especially in Nizam. The massive pre-release hype, Nani’s credibility, Telangana flavor and curiosity around the project helped it survive.
Nani’s aggressive promotions also played an important role. Despite the film’s flaws, many audiences walked into theatres because they trusted Nani.
Trade claims that The Paradise is a safe venture in Nizam, while in Andhra and overseas, it is a disaster, and in the rest of India, it is a flop.
The producers, however, have announced that the film has reached breakeven. However, commercially, it remains a massive, missed opportunity. The Paradise is now heading towards a lifetime worldwide gross of around Rs. 165-170 crores, according to trade experts.
Considering the hype, the film had the potential to cross Rs. 300 crores worldwide if the content was even half decent.
So, September ends without a clean hit for Tollywood. There was decent potential, especially for films like Romanchakam and Epic, with big names backing them, but they disappointed. The Paradise was the biggest heartbreaker for what it could have been.
For now, September may not have delivered a genuine success, but it certainly had enough drama at the box office.
