It is becoming clear that Dhanush-starrer 'Captain Miller' and Sivakarthikeyan-starrer 'Ayalaan' are out of the race at the Telugu box office. The market forces have elbowed out both the Telugu-dubbed Tamil releases. Up until now, Dhanush's film has had no Telugu trailer release. So, neither of the two films is up for a Telugu release on January 12. It will be 'Guntur Kaaram', 'Hanu-Man', 'Saindhav' and 'Naa Saami Ranga' throughout this festive season.
Is this development good or bad? From the audience's perspective, this is a negative. The consumer deserves to be offered diversity so that he gets to pick from multiple available choices. Dhanush is a wonderful actor and he has got admirers among the Telugu audience. 'Ayalaan' is a rare genre movie and it will find takers if the content is good. A nominal release on a few screens in markets like Hyderabad would have been desirable to test the waters.
From the market perspective, perhaps, this was expected. Telugu-dubbed Tamil films have lost their muscle in the last 4-5 years. Barring exceptions like 'Jailer' and 'Vikram', others have been ignored. 'Captain Miller' does look like an event film but it is uncertain that it has the caliber to make itself count this Sankranthi.
