The big cockfight of Tollywood: Why Sankranti is the season of star slugfests

Think Sankranti and you can’t help but think of two things – the kite fights up in the sky and the cock fights, aka kodi pandalu, down below, which mark the festival, especially in rural AP and Telangana. Look a little closer and you’ll see it’s the same competitive, fighting spirit that spills over on to the silver screen as well: Sankranti marks one of the biggest film release windows in Tollywood. And it brings with it the biggest box office fights of the whole year.

“Every year during Sankranti, for as long as we can remember, Telugu film buffs have seen the biggest stars of the industry fighting it out at the box office,” points out film historian Hari-krishna Mamidi, drawing a parallel between the famous cockfights and the battle of the stars on the big screen. After all, this is a battle that declares who’s the biggest entertainer of ’em all, and only one mighty pandem kodi walks away as winner. “Year after year, come Sankranti, a clear line is drawn between superstars and the rest – a festive release of this scale is not for the smaller stars. And, there’s almost always a winning pandem kodi who walks away as the ‘star of the year’ on the last festival of the Telugu calendar year,” Harikrishna explains.

From farm stories to modern fairytales
Sankranti being the harvest festival, a lot of the films releasing at this time, would revolve around life of the rural farm folk. “Back in the time of NTR, ANR, Krishna and Sobhan Babu, films like Ooriki Monagadu, Dasara Bullodu or Gudi Gantalu were the norm. Farmers, freshly flush with funds from the harvest, would be looking to spend big bucks. Fans go all out to support their favourite hero and make sure his movie opens to packed houses,” Harikrishna says, adding, “But the tide shifted when Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna, Nagarjuna and Venkatesh entered the fold after the 80s. They made cinema much more dynamic, action-oriented and live – a theme that seems to be returning now.”

Fanfare and fanwars reach fever pitch this season
Telugu movie fans are known for their hero-worshipping antics, and it’s on full display during Sankranti. Director Tharun Bhascker, who’s grown up on a staple diet of Telugu cinema, and witnessed his share of Sankranti cinema celebrations, says, “I’m sure, like me, a lot of Telugu cinema lovers have memories of lining up in serpentine queues at single screen theatres in RTC X-Roads to get a ticket before the ‘Housefull’ board pops out. To be able to snag a ticket for a Sankranti show meant you earned some bragging rights; especially if it was the first show.”

Sundeep Kishan couldn’t agree more. He may be a ‘hero’ himself today, but come Sankranti, and the fanboy in him comes out. “When you have big stars like, say, Chiranjeevi and Balakrishna competing at box office, it is a whole different feeling. You are like a kid in the candy store! I spend my Sankrantis deciding which film I want to catch first.”

Cinema is good business during Sankranti
Not just actors, filmmakers too look forward to this season. For every filmmaker, a Sankranti release is a dream. If you get one, it’s not just a validation that you have arrived, but also a chance to rake in big moolah, reckons director Anil Ravipudi. A film buff-turned-filmmaker, Anil, who has had two consecutive Sankranti releases in six film-career says, it was a dream come true. “My first film Pataas (2015) released just after Sankranti. I wanted my next, Raja The Great, to release during this season in 2017, but again, we couldn’t make it. I took a break on purpose to time the release of F2: Fun and Frustration in 2019 and Sarileru Neekevvaru in 2020 with Sankranti. If the pandemic hadn’t happened, F3 too would’ve also released in the festive season,” he tells us. Ask him why it’s so important for him to do that and he says: “Ee time lo audience ki entertainment cinema ne. Theatres are full during Sankranti. Instead of the usual one ticket, people come together to watch films as a family. It’s like a movie jatara.”

How Sankranti turned these actors into stars
Despite the misconception that it’s only big stars who rule the box office for Sankranti,the early 2000s saw a major shift. Prabhas might have Baahubali today, but it was really the 2004 Sankranti release Varsham that made him a household name. Mahesh Babu was adorable as Murari, but it was the 2003 Sankranti film Okkadu that made everyone sit up and take notice of the Superstar. Girls were fawning over Siddharth always, but the 2005 Nuvvostanante Nenoddanta cemented his place as a star to reckon with. Even boy next door Tarun cemented his status in 2002 with the Sankranti release Nuvvu Leka Nenu Lenu. Anushka Shetty broke the glass ceiling and successfully moved past the ‘commercial heroine’ trope with the 2009 Sankranti hit Arundhati.

Sankranthi hits at the box office in Tollywood since Y2K - Harikrishna Mamidi

2000 - Kalisundam Raa
2001 - Narasimha Naidu
2002 - Nuvvu Leka Nenu Lenu
2003 - Okkadu
2004 - Varsham
2005 - Nuvvosthanante Nenoddantana
2006 - Lakshmi
2007 - Desamuduru
2008 - Krishna
2009 - Arundathi
2010 - Adhurs
2011 - Mirapakai
2012 - Businessman
2013 - Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu
2014 - Yevadu
2015 - No hits
2016 - Soggade Chinni Nayana
2017 - Khaidi No150
2018 - No hits
2019 - F2
2020 - Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, Sarileru Neekevvaru
2021 - Krack, Master
2022 - Bangarraju