Siddu Jonnalagadda shot straight to fame with his two films, D.J. Tillu and Tillu Square but one wonders what’s actually going wrong with him now. Despite having everything going for him, his recent choices have not worked out.
Jack is a case in point. The film failed to excite the audience and was largely rejected even before its first shows, due to weak promotional material, including teaser and trailer.
When it comes to Telusu Kada as we reported, the team themselves mismanaged the film’s positioning. They initially marketed it as a soft film, but with no pre-release buzz, they tried to present it as a radical, attitude-driven hero film. Even that strategy failed, with poor openings both in the Telugu states and in North America. The film’s North American gross, currently around $330k and likely ending below $400K, underscores the scale of the disaster for a hero like Siddhu.
After the striking impact of D.J. Tillu, Siddhu’s choices with Jack and Telusu Kada raise serious questions. Working with a director like Bommarillu Bhaskar for Jack was a risky move, which he seems to have realized too late. Telusu Kada, directed by debutant Neerja Kona is a conversational drama. While the effort is evident, she couldn’t pull it off and the genre appeals to only a small fraction of the audience. For someone like Siddhu, who draws large crowds in theaters, choosing such niche subjects was a huge misstep.
In both cases, the script choices should have been rejected at the very first reading. This is not to say Siddhu should only do mass-hero or high-energy films like the Tillu series, but the principle is that any film he takes on must have novelty, freshness, and clear appeal to his target audience. Even sequels like Tillu 3 could have been a safer bet, but there is never a guarantee for any film. The key is understanding audience expectations and market fit.
Hopefully, Siddhu has learned these costly lessons and will avoid repeating such mistakes. Otherwise, rebuilding momentum and audience trust could take significant time.
