Why Telugu Superstars Avoid Dasara Films
Festival releases are usually a dream for film producers for better openings and a chance to recover a large part of the investment quickly. Yet there is an interesting trend in Tollywood. While Sankranthi regularly attracts films starring top Telugu heroes, Dasara has increasingly become a space for smaller and mid-range films.
Sankranthi offers a longer stretch of holidays in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, often helping films sustain collections beyond the opening weekend. Even when reviews are divided, a film with decent star power and hype can benefit from several days of family audiences visiting theatres. Dasara also brings holidays, but the number of consecutive days off can vary depending on the year, schools and colleges.
The timing of Dasara can also create challenges. The festival falls around September or October, when weather conditions can sometimes affect theatre attendance, particularly in rural areas. Agricultural work may also keep some audiences occupied. However, these factors do not affect every film or every region equally.
The bigger issue, however, is the changing economics of pan-India cinema. Big Telugu films now carry budgets running into hundreds of crores, with theatrical rights sold at prices that demand business across several markets. Telugu states alone may not be enough to support those expectations. The Hindi market, in particular, has its own release calendar, with October, November, and December often attracting big Bollywood films, so Dasara becomes not so viable.
This creates an opportunity for mid-range local films which can secure better theatres and use the Dasara holiday period to their advantage. Strong content and positive word of mouth can help them give a better run during Dasara than a usual release.
However, this Dasara is expected to bring fireworks at the box office, with Rajinikanth’s Jailer 2 and Vijay Deverakonda’s Ranabaali scheduled for an October 15 and 16 release. While Dasara may not be as lucrative as Sankranthi or the summer holiday season, it still offers significant benefits to Tollywood films, especially those that receive strong word of mouth.
If these releases make good use of the holiday window, it could encourage more top-tier Telugu stars to target Dasara instead of leaving the festival largely to smaller and mid-range films.
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