MUMBAI: E-City Films has acquired the regional distribution rights for Shankar Dada Zindabad, a Telugu re-make of the box-office blockbuster, Lage Raho Munnabhai.
Starring Chiranjeevi in the lead role the movie is slated to release with over 100 prints. Shankar Dada Zindabad was preceded by Shankar Dada M.B.B.S in 2004.
E-City Films has acquired the distribution rights for three sub-territories Vizag, Krishna and Guntur which forms part of Coastal Andhra Territory and comprises 29 per cent of the total state market of Telugu movies. This is the first regional and largest ever distribution rights acquisition for E-City Films.
E-City Films sees the regional Telugu market as having a lot of potential and is looking at acquiring further three-four big-banner Telugu films this year. The Telugu film industry account for over one per cent of the gross state domestic product of Andhra Pradesh and is also creating one of the biggest markets for Indian cinema across the world. In a $6 billion Indian film industry, Hindi films command a 30 per cent market share compared with releases in Tamil at 20 per cent and Telugu at 18 per cent.
With an average of 200-250 prints per release, the growth of multiplexes has also helped in pushing up box office collections, by using digital technology and by pushing more prints (upto 400 in some cases) in the market for the first week to reduce piracy. The regional Telugu market has seen unprecedented expansion in the last two decades, growing nearly 100 per cent every five years.
Directed by Prabhudeva, with dialogues by the Paruchuri Brothers and a music score by Devi Sri Prasad, the star cast with Chiranjeevi playing the title role of Shankar Prasad, Srikkanth in a supporting role as A.T.M (Any Time Murder) and Pawan Kalyan in Abhishek Bachchan’s role, under the Gemini Film Circuit banner.
Model Karishma Kotak will be essaying the role played by Vidya Balan; Sadha will play Dia Mirza’s role and Shayaji Shinde playing the role that Boman Irani played in the original. Dilip Prabhavalkar will be playing the role of Mahtma Gandhi, just as he did in the original.
The movie is scheduled to release in July.
