A familiar debate between Tamil and Telugu fans has ensued online about which group supports good cinema. The reason behind the recent episode of the fight is Prithviraj’s Aadujeevitham. According to reports, the Malayalam film, also released in Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi, is doing poorly in the Telugu-speaking states. Many X handles claimed that it is because Telugu audiences don’t support good cinema and lean towards masala entertainers.
According to Sacnilk, in six days, the worldwide box office collection of Aadujeevitham aka The Goat Life is about Rs 81 crore. In India, the film has minted Rs 46 crore, of which Rs 32 crore is from the film’s native state Kerala. In Tamil Nadu, the film has collected Rs 5.4 crore, and in Karnataka and the Telugu-speaking states, the film has raked in Rs 3.4 crore and Rs 2.1 crore, respectively. Based on such figures, many netizens have blamed the Telugu audience for not supporting good cinema.
Sharing the screenshots of reviews of the film from Telugu media platforms, a Tamil user wrote, “This rating is called Telugu reviewer taste. Seriously, when I see this it makes me laugh. I know The Goat Life is not an entertaining film, but rating-wise, it is really a worthy movie. Please don’t release this kind of movie for Telugu audience.”
this rating is called telugu reviewer taste 😂😂😂 seriously when i see this it makes me laugh i knew the goat life is not entertaining film but rating wise 😱 is really worth thse movies > goat life #TheGoatLifeReview please don’t release these kind of movies for telugu audience pic.twitter.com/SXbsg85pwd
— Yours பார்வையாளன் (@yours_viewer) March 28, 2024
#Aadujeevitham / #TheGoatLife – Gets an BELOW AVERAGE opening at AP/TG Box office !!
The impact of Art Film over the Telugu Audience pic.twitter.com/5D9zHBfIGy
— AmuthaBharathi (@CinemaWithAB) April 1, 2024
What Telugans expect from Prithviraj to do in #Aadujeevitham https://t.co/XyIAbI5VVk pic.twitter.com/VaQFwUpW48
— RCB தியாகி ⚠️ (@Psych_here_) April 2, 2024
#Aadujeevitham gets below average numbers in Telugu Box-office! Telugu Audience says that they support good films, buy don’t watch when it releases in theatres. Double standard philosophy as always pic.twitter.com/ISvnvmSt4n
— Kolly Censor (@KollyCensor) April 2, 2024
In response to such tweets, many Telugu fans hit back. “Why do Tamils care about the Telugu version of Malayalam films? Malayalis support Tamil films hugely and Tamil don’t give that support for Malayalam movies. Except for Manjummel Boys and Premam, no movie collected remarkably there. Whereas in Telugu 2018, Puli Murugan, Kurup, Premalu (sic),” read a tweet.
Come on Telugu people you can do better than this.
One guy is saying #TilluSquare is better then #Aadujeevitham content wise. And another idiot is saying we only used to make soft-porn. Watch our old movies and criticise. #PrithvirajSukumaran #TilluSquare https://t.co/S92PASSnJI pic.twitter.com/PMef9Hf1SS
— The dude (@lol98176) April 1, 2024
In reality, however, Aadujeevitham has received a middling reception in both Tamil and Telugu states invalidating the whole online debate. Tamil trade analyst Ramesh Bala says, “Even the Tamil version didn’t do that well. It contributed maybe 5 percent to overall success. And Telugu is of course less… maybe around 2 percent of the total collection.” AB George, a trade analyst based out of Kochi, claims that the reason behind the middling performance in Tamil and Telugu states is because of the lack of connection. Citing Ponniyin Selvan films as an example, he says, “The films didn’t do that well in Telugu states or anywhere else because it didn’t have the connect. The books are pretty popular in Tamil Nadu and that’s why it worked well there. The reason behind Manjummel Boys doing phenomenally well in Tamil Nadu is because of Guna and Kodai.”
He added, “Even films of Vijay, who is considered a Malayalam star in Kerala, will get an underwhelming response if it is not good. Take Varisu for example, it didn’t do well here while Leo did brilliantly. The same goes for Rajinikanth’s Lal Salaam, which didn’t even collect Rs 70 lakhs here. Aadujeevitham lacks the factors that would connect it to a Telugu audience whereas it is even part of the school syllabus in Kerala. So, it is unfair to compare the reception.”
Deepak, a trade analyst from Hyderabad, says the whole argument is silly and claims the controversy was created by some unknown X handles from Tamil Nadu to pit fans of the three states against each other. Denying that Telugu cinema fans don’t support good cinema, Deepak says, “The only two places where dubbed films work are Telugu and Hindi belts. All kind of movies from all the places gets dubbed in Telugu. One should see how well dubbed movies in Tamil work before making such claims. On top of that, at least the Telugu version of Aadujeevitham will recover the release cost. I don’t think that would be possible in Karnataka.”
“The Telugu version of Premalu did well here. And even Manjummel Boys’ Malayalam version did decently. On the other hand, one has to check how well dubbed Malayalam films do in Tamil Nadu or Karnataka,” he adds claiming the futility of the debate.
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