Baahubali effect: Telugu films eye grand VFX for pan-India reach

Telugu stars' push for wider reach is driving up VFX spends and extending the production timelines

- Lata Jha

Telugu stars and directors are increasingly looking to dub their projects in multiple languages to cultivate a wider audience base, boosting investment in visual effects and production value.

The entire process, while enhancing the grandeur of the final product, is delaying the theatrical release of movies. The trend that started with S.S. Rajamouli's blockbuster Baahubali has encouraged actors to replicate the film's success by going pan-India.

Yet, this strategy means that top stars who would earlier see at least one release annually are taking 2-3 years to come up with new films, drying up the pipeline of new films featuring top stars and denting box-office prospects that in turn is hurting theatre owners.