The ongoing Telangana bandh has had no major impact on Tollywood, and
Dookudu, the Mahesh Babu film released on Friday, is continuing to make money.
With educational institutions declaring a vacation for the festival, and Tollywood having expressed its solidarity with Telangana by not screening films for 2 days, it has been smooth sailing so far for the film industry.
"The collections, in fact, have increased. With the holidays, and children at home, there is more demand for movies. Dookudu is creating records, and the collections are brimming over," industry sources said.
Earlier, there were attacks on movie shootings, and some movies by top stars were being stalled by Telangana activists. This was last year, though, and things have changed.
For the first time after the Telangana agitation gained momentum last year, the Telugu film industry
recently expressed solidarity with the agitators and declared a 2-day bandh of cinema theatres, having lost around Rs. 6 crore.
"There were no reports of any untoward incidents, and Dookudu is doing very well. RTC buses and autos being off the road may cause some problems, but die-hard fans are reaching theatres in whatever mode of transportation is available to them," an industry analyst said.
However, on Saturday, in Warangal town, Telangana activists stopped the screening of Dookudu at a theatre. The activists set ablaze the posters and caused some damage to the theatre. Later, the management stopped the screening. (INN)