The summer of 2025 has gotten off to a great start with two successive box office hits in Telugu — one with comedy caper ‘Mad Square’ and the other with suspense courtroom drama ‘Court’. These flicks drew crowds to theatres with word-of-mouth talk and social media posts. Audiences thronged to theatres to watch these films despite the apparent IPL fever gripping the youth.
However, the scene has been changed after a couple of weeks as Telugu producers are worried with less occupancy in theatres. And no big star films are releasing in the theatres to keep the momentum going. The box office business of Telugu cinema seems to be quite dull with the films like Siddu Jonnalagadda’s ‘Jack’ and ‘Good Bad Ugly’ making no noise as expected. As these flicks went against the expectations, film buffs are muted with the dull display of great talents one Siddu and the other is star Ajay. Fans of star actor Ajith are miffed with the Telugu version of the film as it got quite a dull reception in Telugu States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Meanwhile, the film of Television-host-turned actor Pradeep — ‘Akkada Ammayi Ikkada Abbayi’ too have a fewer openings in a few centres because of the mixed talk.
While there has been enough fun and craze surrounding IPL fixtures and the current players seizing opportunity to display their talent, a few film buffs and filmmakers are expressing dissatisfaction over the scenario of Telugu cinema and the overall business running high and dry. Even the film exhibitors in Telugu States are expressing their displeasure over dull business as seats remain vacant across the centres due to the poor show. The impact is going to run further deep in the coming weeks with some of the big budget flicks like ‘Hari Hara Veera Mallu’, Kannappa, ‘Ghati’ have formally postponed their releases due to obvious reasons. Now the makers are waiting with fingers crossed.