The Telugu film industry is witnessing an interesting footfall battle, with Irumudi emerging as a major benchmark.
The Ravi Teja starrer has delivered exceptional theatrical turnout without increased ticket prices.
Its impressive audience response has raised a bigger question; can the upcoming biggies Varanasi and Spirit eventually surpass what Irumudi is achieving with footfalls?
After Pushpa 2, Irumudi is reportedly recording the highest footfalls in the Nizam region, with the difference from Pushpa 2 standing at just around two lakh tickets.
Considering the extraordinary theatrical run of Pushpa 2, coming this close is a significant achievement for Irumudi.
The film has gone even further in all other territories, where it has reportedly already crossed Pushpa 2’s footfall numbers.
This makes Irumudi’s achievement particularly noteworthy, as footfalls offer a clearer picture of how strongly audiences are turning up for a film.
Now, the spotlight shifts to Varanasi, directed by S.S. Rajamouli and starring Mahesh Babu, and Spirit, directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga with Prabhas in the lead. Both films are expected to arrive with enormous hype and nationwide attention.
The real question, therefore, is whether Varanasi and Spirit can break Irumudi’s footfall records.
With ticket prices becoming an increasingly important factor, surpassing Irumudi without depending entirely on premium pricing could become an even bigger challenge.
And these films that invest hundreds of crores in production cannot even dare to hit the screens without seeking government permission for ticket-price hikes.
But here is the real question; if a film made on a reported budget of just Rs 35 crore like Irumudi can break records purely through footfalls, how many people can Varanasi or Spirit actually bring to theatres?
In fact, whether it is RRR or any other big-ticket film, the massive collections often come with the advantage of steep ticket-price hikes.
But when it comes to the actual number of tickets sold and audiences brought into theatres, several of these films remain far behind Irumudi.
