Sankranthi Clashes At Tollywood Box Office In The Past Decade

A colourful Sankranthi that it was, NTR's Nanaku Prematho and Nagarjuna’s Soggade Chinni Nayana led the race while Sharwanand’s Express Raja too fared well for the scale of movie it was. Balakrishna’s Dictator was not far behind in terms of collections. A pretty decent festival without much disappointment.

A unique Sankranthi season when no Telugu movie released during the season. Gopala Gopala was the only closest that released on January 9th and the Pawan - Venky multi-starrer scored a super hit with the audience as well as in terms of collections. Manoharudu, the dubbed version of Shankar’s I had its release on 14th January but fell at the box-office.

One Sankranthi that didn’t go well for Mahesh Babu. A movie that everyone now would empathize with its performance at the box-office, but barely bothered to notice when it released back then. Mahesh’s experiment back fired at him though earned him critical acclaim. It was Ram Charan who scored a hit with Yevadu during this season.

One of the Sankranthi seasons which proved that there can even be two winners was the 2013 Sankranthi. Ram Charan’s Naayak and the Mahesh-Venky multi-starrer Seethamma Vaakitlo Sirimalle Chettu, both were well received by the audience and it was a festival of complete collections for the industry.

2012 was not a very happening Sankranthi season in terms of movies. But, Businessman surprised everyone with some remarkable collections and stood really strong. Venkatesh’s Bodyguard came with great expectations but just managed to a sober one. And most of you might even wonder when the movie Nandeswarudu released. Yes, such was the fate of the movie.

Another good season of movies, 2011 Sankranthi had a mix of everything. Ravi Teja’s Mirapakaya topped as the winner, while Sumanth and Swathi Reddy starrer Golconda High School could only manage to do average business. Balakrishna’s Param Veera Chakra and Disney’s first venture in Telugu Anaganaga Oka Dheerudu failed to set the cash registers ringing.

The Telangana movement was in its peak stages and this not only disrupted a few movies earlier, it affected even the winner of 2010 Sankranthi releases. Fortunately, no movie sank at the box-office during this year’s Sankranthi. NTR Jr. starrer Adhurs went on to be declared as the winner of the season. Not far behind, Venky’s Namo Venkatesa and Samuthikaran directorial Shambo Shiva Shambo managed to cash in some good collections as well as reviews.

Yes, it was the year of Arundathi. Though it faced a few glitches during its release, Arundathi not just topped the Sankranthi season but even till date is considered as one of the best hits in the decade. Ram’s Maska opened quite big, but it managed to do only average business, while Allari Naresh’s Fitting Master sank without a trace.

It was a big festival of movies in 2008. And out of the 4 movies that released during this season, only Ravi Teja and Trisha starrer Krishna emerged as a winner. While Balakrishna’s Okka Magadu and MS Raju’s directorial debut Vaana couldn’t hold on in the race and ended as failures. Sumanth’s Pourudu, though got decent reviews did not manage to do good business.

Now, we know them as great friends. But, back in 2007, Allu Arjun’s Desamuduru and Prabhas’ Yogi locked horns with each other during Sankranthi. While ‘Desamuduru’ turned out to be a clear winner, Yogi which was a Kannada remake of Jogi, tumbled down.

The year 2006 saw two releases. Ram Pothineni’s debut Devadasu directed by YVS Chowdary and Lawrence’s Style. Style went on to be a winner from the beginning and Devadasu picked tempo gradually as weeks passed. Both movies fared well at the box-office earning them profits at the end.