Star heroes are paid fat paychecks for a reason. No matter how average the script might be, the star's crowd pulling abilities assure the bare minimum in terms of collections. In recent times, though, Tollywood has realized that this assumption is no longer relevant.
The US market of almost all medium-range Telugu heroes is in the doldrums. Barring Nani and Vijay Deverakonda, the rest have been humbled. The scale of collapse is shattering.
Varun Tej's 'Matka', Vishwak Sen's 'Mechanic Rocky', Nikhil Siddhartha's 'Appudo Ippudo Eppudo', among other Telugu movies, have been pathetic disasters in the US in recent weeks. The likes of Satyadev and Suhas have hoped to arrive on the scene with 'Zebra' and 'Janaka Aithe Ganaka', respectively, only to face disappointments. Nithiin, Ram Pothineni, Naga Shaurya and Sree Vishnu, too, have faced terrible setbacks.
At this rate, Tollywood will have to give up on the overseas market altogether unless they make rare films or genres, that too with big names. In the coming years, Naveen Polishetty has the tremendous capability to become a safe bet in the US market. Others like Nikhil Siddhartha will stand a chance, provided they do event films like 'Swayambhu' and 'The India House'.
