Mahesh Babu's "Srimanthudu", which is slated to hit screens on 7 August, won't be able to beat even one collection record of SS Rajamouli's "Baahubali - the Beginning".
Mahesh Babu is the next most popular and highly-adored Telugu actor after Pawan Kalyan. Until the releases of "Baahubali - the Beginning", his movies shared most of the top records with Power Star's movies in Tollywood.
Photos: Funny Mistakes in Baahubali
But the tsunami called "Baahubali" has swept away all Tollywood records and led to the setting of new benchmarks; beating them will be a tall order for future Telugu films.
"Baahubali - the Beginning", made simultaneously in Telugu and Tamil and dubbed in Hindi and Malayalam, was released in a record number of screens in all the circuits of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and other parts of India, apart from key international markets.
The Prabhas-Rana Daggubati starrer holds many records - the biggest opener; the highest grosser in opening weekend and the highest earnings in the first, second, third and fourth week in almost all regions mentioned above.
In 27 days, "Baahubali - the Beginning" has grossed Rs 520 crore in box office collections worldwide and is still going strong at many regions.
"Baahubali - the Beginning" has not only broken box office collection records of South Indian movies, but also of many blockbuster Bollywood films such as "Chennai Express", "3 Idiots", "Happy New Year", "Kick" and "Krrish 3". It has become the fourth highest grosser of all times.
Here are five reasons why we think "Srimanthudu" will not be able to beat any box office collection record of "Baahubali":
1 Number of Languages
"Baahubali - the Beginning" was released in four languauges - Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam, while "Srimanthudu" will be released in just two, Telugu and Tamil. As a result, the Mahesh Babu starrer may not be able to drive audience crazy to theatres in areas dominated by Hindi and Malayalam speaking people, the way "Baahubali - the Beginning" did.
2 Screen Count
"Baahubali - the Beginning" was released in over 4,200 screens in over 22 countries. As per ads published in newspapers, "Srimanthudu" will hit around 2000 cinema halls on 7 August.
3 Hype and Production
Right from the beginning of its production, the makers of "Baahubali" adopted several unique promotional strategies to create curiosity among film-goers. "Srimanthudu" has not seen even half of the hype and promotion surrounding Rajamouli's film.
4 Advance Booking
A day before its release, "Baahubali" had registered an average of 90% for advance booking for its opening weekend and 40% for weekdays. On the other hand, "Srimanthudu" has got an average of 65% booking for its first day and its booking for the following days would depend on word-of-mouth.
5 Story and Production
The story and production of "Baahubali" have a universal appeal, which is the reason for its huge success in national and international markets. But "Srimanthudu" has a routine story executed in regular filmmaking style. Both these aspects do not match to the standards of "Baahubali".
It should be mentioned Mahesh Babu's movies run on his star power and the success of his previous releases is a proof of it. So "Srimanthudu" will also do well and become a big success at the box office. The film will beat the records of "S/o Satyamurthy", "Temper" and "Gopala Gopala" and become the second highest grosser Telugu movie in 2015.
