Sony MAX TV channel will telecast Baahubali , one of the biggest grossers this year, this Sunday. The channel is going to town with repeated promos on the channel about the upcoming telecast.

It is not just because the film had wowed with some spectacular scenes but also because there is a huge following for the film content among the Hindi heartland viewers.

Neeraj Vyas, Executive Vice-President and Business Head of (Sony MAX and MIX), said that about 25 per cent of all the content in the film genre that Hindi TV channels air is non-Bollywood. “Of this, about 90 per cent is Telugu, followed by Tamil,” he said.

The channel expects a 5+ rating for Baahubali this Sunday, on par with the ratings that generally come for blockbuster hits of stars like Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan.

“There has been a general acceptance for Telugu films in the northern states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. The themes are universal and are appealing,” Neeraj Vyas said.

It was a big surprise for Baahubali director Rajamouli too. “We knew that it is going to be a hit (in Hindi) but had not expected this kind of response for the movie,” he told BusinessLine here on Tuesday.

The film reportedly grossed six times more than the ₹18 crore that Rajnikanth’s Enthiran collected a few years ago for the dubbed version.

He, however, felt that the percentage of dubbed South films should not go up beyond a point. “We should not overdo it. The onus is on us to keep it in the limits,” he said.

Price correction

The price of TV telecast rights, which hit the zenith in the last few years with the channels vying with one another to pocket the flicks, has witnessed a correction this year. “The industry has seen a correction of 20-25 per cent this year. There is a scope for 10-15 per cent more correction. Then, it will be a true value for both sides,” he pointed out.

“Prices used to be inflated as channels rush for rights without even waiting for their box office performance,” he said.

The General Entertainment Channels (GEC) has a share of 34 per cent, followed by film channels with 14-15 per cent. The TV channels attracted about three-fourths of the ₹32,000-crore advertisement pie in the country.

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