Prince Mahesh Babu’s high voltage action and comedy entertainer Dookudu is rewriting Telugu Cinema Box Office history in all areas. The film is firmly on target to become the highest grossing Telugu movie of all time. Demand is still strong in most areas and this should see the movie comfortably through to its target. But amidst all these celebrations, let us not ignore some very important business lessons Dookudu has taught us. Dookudu has shown that the best way to achieve success is to ensure a massive release of the film backed by a marketing and publicity blitzkrieg. When that kind of strategy is employed, the charm and Box Office power of the hero will do the rest. This is precisely what happened with Dookudu.
During the opening weekend, some analysts estimate that approximately 75% – 80% of the functioning theaters in Andhra Pradesh were screening Dookudu. And that grand release was backed up for weeks by a strong, sustained and co-ordinated publicity campaign that built up the hype over the movie. Prince Mahesh Babu’s charm and massive fan following among all sections of the society pulled the crowds to the theaters. And the rest,as they say, is history.
In this day and age, 100 day runs do not matter anymore. It is all about how much money the movie can make in the shortest possible time. Piracy and competing forms of entertainment will dilute any movie’s collections after the first few weeks.
The business tactics of Bollywood films run along similar lines. Let us see if Dookudu’s strategy is emulated in future by all big budgeted Telugu films.
