Rana Daggubati on Shrinking Theatres & Rising Telugu Cinema: A Tale of Two Trends!
Indian actor, producer, and entrepreneur Rana Daggubati, best known for his role in Baahubali and the Netflix series Rana Naidu, has always been more than just a performer—he’s a keen observer of the film industry’s evolution. In a recent media interaction, Rana opened up about two contrasting yet deeply interconnected phenomena: the shrinking presence of cinema theatres in India and the unstoppable growth of Telugu cinema on the global stage.
📉 The Shrinking Theatre Crisis in India
Rana’s primary concern lies in the dwindling number of movie screens in the country. At one point, India had the infrastructure and appetite for nearly 14,000 theatres, but today, that number has fallen to somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000. This sharp decline has been quietly damaging the theatrical business model—especially for regional and mid-budget films.
“A country like India, with over a billion people, should ideally have 40,000 to 50,000 screens. But we’ve been going in reverse,” said Rana.
Why Are Theatres Shrinking?
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Real Estate Costs: Constructing and maintaining multiplexes and single-screen theatres in urban or even semi-urban zones has become financially unfeasible due to surging property prices.
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Digital Disruption: The rise of OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+ Hotstar has shifted viewing habits, reducing the urgency of a theatre visit.
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Pandemic Aftershock: COVID-19 forced hundreds of theatres to shut down permanently. Many never reopened due to mounting debt or lack of footfall.
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Infrastructure Gaps: Rana pointed out a stark imbalance—while Andhra Pradesh and Telangana still have a strong theatrical presence, vast parts of the country remain underscreened, especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
This creates a domino effect: fewer screens mean shorter theatrical runs, reduced revenues, and eventually, less investor confidence in mid-tier films.
🌟 Telugu Cinema: Bigger, Bolder, Global
Despite the shrinking theatres, Telugu cinema is thriving—not just regionally, but globally. Rana sees this as a powerful paradox and a sign of the industry’s resilience.
From SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali franchise to Pushpa and RRR, Telugu films are no longer just catering to local audiences. They’re pulling in massive numbers worldwide, bagging international awards, and getting dubbed and subtitled into dozens of languages.
“We’ve moved from being a language cinema to a global cinema,” Rana noted proudly.
What’s Driving Telugu Cinema’s Boom?
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Visionary Filmmakers: Directors like Rajamouli, Sukumar, and Trivikram Srinivas are blending mythology, action, and emotion in a way that resonates across cultures.
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Technical Excellence: Telugu films have raised the bar with cutting-edge VFX, sound design, and cinematography—making them competitive with Hollywood productions.
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Star Power Meets Substance: Actors like Allu Arjun, Jr. NTR, Ram Charan, and Prabhas have built fanbases across India and abroad. Their films now open in multiple languages, sometimes even beating Bollywood at the box office.
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Storytelling Range: From grand epics to rooted dramas, Telugu cinema now offers a buffet of genres that cater to mass and niche audiences alike.
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OTT + Global Dubbing: Telugu films have become OTT staples globally, with platforms actively acquiring rights for dubbed versions to stream in Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East.
🎭 Balancing Blockbusters & Indie Cinema
While blockbusters are great for drawing international attention, Rana also stressed the need to support independent films and new voices. The future of any industry, he believes, lies in a dual-engine model—where both mainstream and parallel cinema thrive side by side.
This is where the shrinking theatre ecosystem becomes a larger problem. Smaller films rarely get enough screens, and if they do, they often lose them within a day or two to bigger releases. OTTs offer some solace, but lack the communal magic of the big screen.
“Every kind of story deserves a place. Not everything has to be massive. That’s the diversity Indian cinema needs to protect,” Rana emphasized.
Case in Point
Recent films like Cinema Bandi (Telugu indie on Netflix) and Balagam (a rural drama) prove that there is a demand for culturally rich, small-budget storytelling. But these films rely heavily on word-of-mouth, online buzz, and festival circuits to be seen—mainly because they are rarely prioritized in theatrical distribution.
🏗️ What Needs to Change?
1. Theatre Revitalization
State governments and private investors need to prioritize theatre-building in under-served areas. If ticket pricing, comfort, and technology improve, people will return.
2. Policy Push
There is scope for government intervention—either via subsidies, low-interest loans for multiplexes in Tier 2/3 areas, or land allocation for cultural infrastructure.
3. Equitable Screen Sharing
Distributors and multiplex chains must ensure fair screen space for indie and regional films, rather than prioritizing only mega-budget releases.
4. Technological Innovations
Mini theatres, mobile screens, or community screenings (like in Japan or rural France) could serve as alternative formats for audience engagement.
5. Industry Unity
As Rana suggests, filmmakers, producers, and exhibitors must come together to preserve the diversity and sustainability of the industry. A unified body can lobby for better infrastructure and more equitable content policies.
🎯 The Bigger Picture: India as a Cinema Powerhouse
With over 2,000 films produced annually across languages, India is the largest film-producing country in the world. But quantity isn’t the only metric that matters.
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Quality distribution
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Audience development
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Diverse storytelling
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Cultural export
These are the pillars that will decide how Indian cinema—Telugu in particular—cements its place on the global map.
“If we want to be taken seriously as a cinema superpower, we need to fix the fundamentals. Theatres are part of that,” concluded Rana.
🙌 Final Thoughts
Rana Daggubati’s insights strike a chord not just with filmmakers and exhibitors, but also with cinephiles and policy-makers. On one hand, we’re witnessing the golden age of Telugu cinema, with its spectacular rise in both scale and scope. On the other, we’re facing a silent crisis that threatens the very ecosystem that nurtures such growth.
Balancing both is not just a business challenge—it’s a cultural responsibility.
Telugu cinema is rising. But to truly soar, it needs more than global fans and box office records—it needs screens where stories, big and small, can come to life.
