Ace producer and distributor Dil Raju is popular for churning out films with sensible content that cut across all sections of audience. He produced notable films like Arya, Bommarillu, Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalli Chettu and Brundavanam to name a few. Over the years, Dil Raju associated with many blockbuster films and industry circles labelled him as a midas touch movie maker. His production banner carries a decent image among the Overseas audience and Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalli Chettu is one of the top grossing Telugu films in Overseas till date.
Unfortunately from the past few years, the success ratio of Dil Raju has dropped below the line. All his recent films disappointed the trade circles in Overseas. Kerintha, Subramanyam For Sale, Krishastami and Supreme are some of his recent films which had a decent performance at the box office in Telugu states. But, all of them ended as disasters in Overseas. Although these films were made on mediocre content, they found decent patronage here, but the Overseas audience rejected them big-time.His ‘Krishnastami’ tanked heavily in both the Telugu states and overseas.
Let’s look at each of the movies and loss incurred.
Subramanyam for Sale: Though this was a decent hit in India, SFS collected ~130k in overseas. Overseas distributor lost more than 50%.
Krishnastami: A colossal flop in overseas market. This movie was bought for 1 crore in overseas, not accounting interest incurred due to inordinate delays. Distributor didn’t even recover expenses on this movie and the total estimated loss is ~1.5crores, even though purchase price is 1 crore.
Supreme: 
Steak continues. Though this movie was a decent fare in India, this ended up as a loss venture to overseas distributor. No distributors came forward to buy the movie, but a week before release Bluesky snapped it up. This movie was bought for a guaranteed price of 50lacs and producer gets all money upto 1crore. Currently movie has collected around 110k, and due to the heavy release this just covers expenses. Total loss on this is 50 lacs.
Also, as some other producers do, Dil Raju doesn’t even help out distributors with his next movies when distributor lost completely. Krishastami distributor lost money due to inordinate delays, but he wasn’t even offered next movie for a discounted price.
It has been a long time since Dil Raju made a film with fresh and sound content. He has relied on commercial pot boilers rather than content driven films. He should come up with films that has strong and sensible content which will reach out all sections of audience and help him regain his lost glory.
