According to producer Suresh Babu, there has scarcely been any good film produced in the Telugu industry in recent times. Films like Saaho and Sye Raa have suffered losses and small budget films with newer actors find it difficult to attract the audience.
Suresh, the elder son of late filmmaker Ramanaidu, recently spoke about the problems he faces as the owner of several single-screen theatres in the Telugu states. "With digital streaming platforms becoming popular and easily available on your fingertips with each passing day, general audiences are not interested in stepping into the theatres at all."
"They are opting for Netflix and Amazon to watch all the latest movies. They are only watching the big spectacles like Sye Raa and Saaho in theatres. Having no audience on a regular basis has become so common and a lot of trouble is being caused. Forget paying salaries to the employees, I am not even able to pay electricity bills," Suresh added.
Much before the trend of multiplexes came to the Telugu states, single-screen theatres were the rulers. A decade ago there were around 3000 single screens and in the present day, there are only 1700.