SS Rajamouli's 'Baahubali 2', the saviour of regional cinema in 2017

Footfalls for Telegu cinema rose by 37 per cent to 240 million from 175 million and 'Baahubali 2' alone accounted for 43 million

Riding on the huge success of S S Rajamouli's Baahubali 2, regional cinema in the country has touched a new high.

While all other regional film industries have seen an increase in footfalls and growth in revenue, Tamil films have witnessed a downward spiral in terms of growth numbers.

India's large film production market gets a major push from a healthy regional film base, with 29 full-fledged regional film industries. South India is the single-largest regional market, with all four regional languages gaining a strong audience reception, according to a report prepared by FICCI-EY.

The report said the Telugu film segment clocked a 47 per cent growth rate in the net domestic collection in 2017, at Rs 15.33 billion, against 10.42 billion in 2016. A major chunk of that came from Baahubali 2: The conclusion, a Tamil-Telugu bilingual dubbed in Hindi, which contributed Rs 2.85 billion.

Footfalls for Telugu cinema rose by 37 per cent to 240 million from 175 million and Baahubali 2 alone accounted for 43 million.

Another movie that helped the Telugu industry was blockbuster romantic drama Arjun Reddy, a modern Telugu language take on Devdas. Other blockbusters include Pelli Choopulu, Ghazi and PSV Garuda Vega from the Telugu film industry.