Nowadays, Telugu producers are facing huge risks and tough times due to advance commitments. When the theatrical and OTT markets were in top form, they signed massive combinations with star directors and star heroes and planned big-budget films. At that time, they did their calculations and believed that such huge budgets would work in their favor.
But OTT platforms are no longer offering big amounts, and the current offers are coming at only 50–60% of the expected value. On the theatrical side, distributors are also not paying full amounts. Together, these two factors are creating huge financial pressure on Telugu producers, and they are fearing risks.
At present, three ongoing pan-India big-budget films are already facing this situation. On top of this, directors are adding more burden by delaying projects and failing to complete shoots as per the planned schedules. One major issue that is giving sleepless nights to producers is that even after completing a schedule with a huge budget, the director may say, “I am not satisfied,” and opt for an entire reshoot.
In such cases, the producer is already in deficit compared to the planned budget, and reshoots only increase the burden further. Even though the lead stars and directors are confident that the films will perform well across all languages and recover the entire budget, producers need practical numbers. For these three films, producers may be forced to go for deficit releases, and performance in other languages will play a crucial role in recovering their investments.
