Ever since Baahubali, Tollywood has been the industry the rest of Indian cinema looks up to. Baahubali, Baahubali 2, RRR, Kalki 2898 AD and Pushpa 2 set the bar for what an Indian film could do at the box office. This year, though, the story is very different. Tollywood has slipped behind both Bollywood and Kollywood, in content as well as in collections.
Tollywood’s Biggest Is Only ₹350 Cr
Peddi is Tollywood’s biggest grosser this year with around ₹350 Cr gross. For an industry that gave India its first ₹1,000 Cr and ₹1,500 Cr films, that is a big fall.
The bigger worry is the content. Most Telugu films this year were very regular commercial entertainers, and very few stood out for their story or freshness. Neither big films nor small films gave the audience something new.
Kollywood Had a Fantastic Year
Kollywood, on the other hand, had one of its best years. Jailer 2 crossed ₹825 Cr gross and became the biggest Tamil film ever.
Suriya delivered three unique and very good films in a single year. Karuppu grossed ₹320 Cr, Vishwanath and Sons ₹210 Cr, and Scene is running strongly in theatres right now. All three are hits.
The smaller and mid-range films did well too. DC, Baththa, Dorothy, Thai Kizavi, With Love and Blast all worked big at the box office. Kollywood won on scale and on content.
Bollywood Is Back in a Phenomenal Way
Bollywood has had a phenomenal year. Dhurandhar 2 grossed more than ₹1,700 Cr, and Ramayana is now set to go past even that.
Drishyam 3, Hanuman Ansh and Border 2 also worked in a very big way. After years of being told it was losing ground to the South, Bollywood has come roaring back.
2027: Tollywood’s Big Comeback?
The good news for Telugu cinema is that next year’s line-up is massive.
Varanasi: SS Rajamouli and Mahesh Babu
Fauzi: Prabhas and Hanu Raghavapudi
Dragon: NTR and Prashanth Neel
Spirit: Prabhas and Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Each of these films has the potential to score in a massive way. If even two of them deliver, Tollywood will be right back at the top. This year, though, belongs to Bollywood and Kollywood.
