A fantasy revenge drama became the country's highest grossing film and posed a challenge to Bollywood's hegemony in the world's most creative market.
Baahubali franchise, starring Prabhas, Anushka Shetty, Tamannaah, Rana Daggubati in the lead roles, changed the face of Telugu cinema abroad.
The Baahubali fever is in no hurry to die down. The first film Baahubali: The Beginning, directed by SS Rajamouli hit the screens in 2015, and took not just the Indian box office by storm, but did outstandingly well in international waters as well.
Made on a budget of Rs 180 crore, the film had a worldwide gross of Rs 650 crore, and became the highest grossing film in India, and the third highest-grossing film Indian film worldwide.
The fantasy drama ended on a cliffhanger, and the question on everyone's lips was- Why did Kattappa kill Baahubali? We had to wait till 2017, for the second film, Baahubali: The Conclusion.
BAAHUBALI MAGIC CONTINUES
After the first film, people in the US flocked to see more Telugu films, and Allu Arjun's Sarrainodu did phenomenally well as well, and made 678, 519 dollars at the box office. Trade analysts like Taran Adarsh noted how Telugu films were now dominating the US market, and had emerged as a major source of international revenue.
Owing to the nail-biting and suspenseful ending of the previous film, Baahubali: The Conclusion stormed the box office, and earned over Rs 1000 crore in just ten days.
The Telugu film opened to around 900 screens in the US, which was three times the number of screens of Aamir Khan's Dangal. It had the widest release worldwide, and opened in around 9000 screens. In North America, it shattered all previously held box office records for an Indian film.
And, the magic still continues. Baahubali: The Conclusion has crossed 100 days in Japan, and has made over Rs 8.5 crore, and is just behind Rajinikanth's 1998 blockbuster Muthu.
The Baahubali franchise indeed set a precedent for Telugu films, which hadn't received a strong response abroad. It was a game changer, and it opened the lucrative overseas market, which had been ruled by the Bollywood Khans, mostly.
MAKING WAY FOR TELUGU CINEMA
The trend continued with Spyder, Vivegam, and Jai Luva Kusa, which also did astounding business in the international markets. The increasing profits of Telugu films can be attributed to the large Telugu speaking population in the US.
Interestingly, Spyder and Jai Luva Kusa failed to meet the expectations of the box office in India, but did astoundingly well abroad. Even small budget films like Ninnu Kori and Arjun Reddy did well.
BEATING THE BOLLYWOOD KHANS
Trade experts believe that that Telugu films are bigger in America than Bollywood films, owing to Baahubali's performance there. With the exception of Aamir Khan's Dangal, Salman Khan's Tubelight and Shah Rukh Khan's Jab Harry Met Sejal were duds in the US market.
A spokesperson of USA-based Atmus Entertainment, leading distributors of South Indian films had told Firstpost in a statement, "South Indian heroes like Mahesh Babu, Pawan Kalyan, NTR, Vijay and Ajith have a huge opening due to the Telugu and Tamil diaspora. But at the end of the day even big star movie should have a good story to perform at the box-office. It looks like the Baahubali 2 record is here to stay for some time".
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