Allu Arjun made quite a heads turn a few days ago at the Berlin Film Festival 2024. His blockbuster film “Pushpa : The Rise - Part 1” was screened on the sidelines of the festival, and the actor interacted with several members from the international media. The production house, Mythri Movie Makers is said to have met with buyers during the European Film Market (EFM) to discuss securing distribution for Pushpa 2: The Rule. Allu Arjun also hinted at plans of taking the film to the Cannes Film Festival, the biggest film festival in the world, which happens annually in May in France.

Admittedly, it was Allu Arjun’s first ever visit to a film festival and he told several international media outlets that he is trying to get a sense of how film festivals work. In an interview to Variety, Allu Arjun said, “I just want to see how people abroad are going to see this film, and try to understand how they view Indian cinema, just understand how film festivals are and what kind of films are watched and what is the mindset of the people that come there.”

This, however, isn’t the first time that a mainstream Telugu film is being highlighted at Film festivals abroad. In the last few years, the makers of films like Eega, Baahubali, Baahubali 2, Mahanati, and most recently, RRR, and Kalki 2898 AD have tried to reach out to a wider audience through film festivals and comic conventions.

A couple of years before Baahubali released in cinema halls worldwide, Shobu Yarlagadda attended Cannes Film Festival, where SS Rajamouli’s Eega was screened at Cannes Film Market (March Du Film). Subsequently, the film was screened at various other film festivals, including Busan International Film Festival, Tokyo International Film Festival among other fests. It was all part of Arka Mediaworks’ strategy to familiarise international distributors and audiences abroad about Rajamouli’s prowess as one of the most exciting filmmakers from India, and that his subsequent film, Baahubali : The Beginning, is going to be India’s biggest motion picture, back then. Shobu Yarlgadda roped in Francois Da Silva to represent Arka Mediaworks International to spearhead international sales and marketing. By 2016, almost a year after Baahubali released, the film was sold in 30 international territories, including, China, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Latin America among many other countries.

It’s worth noting that traditional international markets like USA, Canada, UK, Middle-East, Australia & NZ have multiple takers for Telugu films; however, when it comes to pushing the film in other markets, filmmakers have had to explore alternative options, including attending film markets and film festivals.

In the past decade, after Eega made a splash at film festivals, the results speak for themselves, especially when it comes to SS Rajamouli’s films. Baahubali 2 was a massive success in Japan, and it even motivated scores of enthusiastic Japanese fans of the film to learn Telugu. Twin Co. Ltd, which first acquired Japan rights for Baahubali franchise, earned a windfall profit with SS Rajamouli’s RRR. The film grossed nearly 2.3 billion yen in Japan, which is close to $15.3 million, which is higher than what the film earned in the USA and Canada.

In recent years, Nag Ashwin’s Mahanati was another film which caught the attention of film festival programmers abroad. The film was screened at Indian Film Festival of Melbourne in 2018, followed by Shanghai International Film Festival in 2019. And his upcoming magnum opus, Kalki 2898 AD, starring Prabhas, Kamal Haasan, Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan, took the marketing strategy one notch above. For the first time ever, a Telugu film’s official title was revealed at Comic-Con in San Diego, USA, along with the teaser. The lead cast including Prabhas and Kamal Haasan, along with Nag Ashwin, and producers Swapna Dutt and Priyanka Dutt, and Rana Daggubati interacted with the media and attendants about the film. Rana’s own company Spirit Media also came onboard as the international marketing and distribution partner for the film.

Following the success of RRR, including an Oscar win for Best Song, a lot has been speculated about SS Rajamouli’s upcoming film starring Mahesh Babu. Perhaps it’s too early to tell what sort of collaborations are going to happen for the film by the time it hits the screens. And it won’t be an understatement to say that sky's the limit this time.

Interestingly, nearly all Telugu films which have made a splash in international markets, especially film festivals, have been big-budget entertainers and period dramas. It’s a positive step forward and one can only hope that it changes the perception that film festivals only promote arthouse cinema. There are several kinds of film festivals, including genre-specific fests like BeyondFest, FantasticFest among others, which cater to different audiences. Where and how one positions a film also dictates how it’s going to be perceived by audiences abroad. It’s a competitive space and quite a few films get lucrative deals from distributors and studios which are on the lookout for the next big thing. At the end of the day, film festivals and film markets offer a wonderful platform for Telugu film producers to explore newer markets, and it needs a big push.

For now, all eyes are on Pushpa 2 and Kalki’s international marketing push. Both the films are slated for release later this year, and it’ll be interesting to see what new paths these films will pave for the rest of the Telugu film fraternity.

- Hemanth C R