Gone are the days where the financiers used to lend full budget for the producers after the film got launched. It is quite tough to sell off the non-theatrical rights in advance now and the theatrical market of every actor is not stable and is at risk. It is a really tough time for the financiers to believe in producers to recover their investments considering the unstable market and business in Telugu cinema currently.
A young actor who scored a solid hit last month tested this luck with a comic entertainer recently. The film suffered minimum openings and the producer lost the entire money. From the title to the trailer, nothing is appealing and the theatrical, non-theatrical deals are not closed. The financiers had to go ahead and bag the theatrical, non-theatrical rights of the film. They lost big money as the producer had nothing much to do. He offered the rights to the financiers and they now lost big money through the film. Rs 14 crores which was financed was lost.
It has been a decade since the Charming Star delivered a hit. The shoots of two of his films are happening at a snail pace and the deals are unsold. He announced a new film recently and it is getting delayed as the financiers are not lending money. The producer of this film is also stuck in a financial mess as his previous film which is ready for release remains unsold.
The film of a young consistent actor in Tollywood too is facing troubles. His upcoming film’s shoot is pushed after the financiers rejected the offer to lend 100 percent finance. The producer is left with no penny and he had plans to complete the shoot by lending finance. He is now in talks to collaborate with other players and complete the film.
A young Tollywood actor who had plans to shift to Bollywood returned back to Telugu cinema. Four of his films are unsold and he is puzzled about which film to release first. It all depends on the non-theatrical deals and the finances to be cleared.
A bunch of medium and small budget films are delayed or kept on hold as the financiers haven’t issued a promise to lend money.
The biggest problem now is that the digital players are not closing the deals till the teaser or the content from the film gets released. In the past, these digital players used to buy the OTT rights after the film was launched. The producers used to lend money based on the digital rights. The plans are now shattered for the producers.
Tollywood producers who are completely relying on finances will have a tough time in the coming days.
