It was a special moment when LA Times wrote an article on their website on how well Dookudu is doing in US. Dookudu had collected $ 1.4 million in three days and the distributors are on cloud nine. What’s more interesting is that several shows were added after the unprecedented opening that the film had got in the first couple of days. It’s a rare feat indeed and whether such feat will be achieved by any other Telugu film in the near future remains to be seen. For now, there are several interesting things which have become clear following the success of Dookudu in US and other foreign territories.

Don’t underestimate the market size:

It’s almost a given thing that Telugu cinema lags behind Hindi and Tamil cinema when it comes to markets outside India. Hindi films have build a global audience especially in US, UK, Canada, Australia and Tamil Cinema continues to dominate in Malaysia, UK, US and other countries. While Telugu films have found niche markets in US, UK, Gulf and Australia, Dookudu dispels a myth that there are not too many movie goers abroad and hence producers don’t have to bother too much about such markets.

All these days, the domestic market was considered to be the most important market and whatever a film earns abroad is just icing on the cake. But if Dookudu’s collections in US are anything to go by, the film might very well collect close to $2 million which is almost Rs 10 crores.

Considering that films collecting Rs 10 crore from a single zone/market come under an elite list, US market might emerge as important as Nizam. If it does happen then it would be a major development which would help Telugu cinema to expand its boundaries.

Don’t restrict your audience:

You can take it for granted that Mahesh Babu is one of the most handsome heroes today. His films continue to create remarkable buzz and over the past few years, he has emerged as a huge brand in the US market. Maybe filmmakers need to understand that the non-Telugu speaking population too would like to see our films, especially when their friends are raving about films like Dookudu. However, there’s no way that non-Telugus would understand our films because we don’t bother subtitling them. This must change and adding subtitles is the need of the hour.

Almost all Hindi films and several Tamil films are being subtitled these days. Perhaps, better planning would do wonders for any Telugu film especially in Overseas markets. And you never know, maybe one day, Telugu films might very well be playing in some non-traditional markets like China, Russia, South Korea, Japan, Europe (other than UK).

Dookudu has found a goldmine in the US and the makers are losing precious time by not subtitling the film immediately. It would be a pity if our Telugu filmmakers continue to think about only Telugu speaking population when they make their films because you cannot imagine what a person bitten by movie bug would end up doing! It’s highly unlikely that people would continue to come in such huge numbers to watch Telugu films, but there’s no harm in trying to put in some effort and subtitle the films.

But then, everything is so uncertain when you think about how people react to films. You never know what might be the next big film which will set new records.