It's Dookudu All The Way

Dookudu" mania has not just gripped the state and the country, but has leapt across borders, capturing the global Telugu community. The film opened to record-breaking collections on September 23 and is all poised to become the Telugu film industry's biggest grosser.

"We are happy with the result and this is what we dreamed of," says a beaming Anil Sunkara, one of the producers of the film. The film's phenomenal success has not only made its producers happy, but also the entire industry which is currently going through a bad patch, is upbeat about the film's success.

Anil, a businessman in the US, says that his love for Telugu films brought him to Tollywood. "My friends and I came to India to produce good films and for the first five years we studied the industry. Srinu Vaitla is a good friend of ours and we produced our first film "Namo Venkatesa" under his direction. I'm a big fan of Superstar Krishna and Mahesh Babu and I always wanted to do a film with Mahesh. Fortunately, Srinu made it possible for me to produce " Dookudu".

"My first film was a success, but the response to "Dookudu" was overwhelming. Many people from the industry have been calling us and sending congratulatory messages," says Anil.
Reacting to reports that his film is all set to break Tollywood records, Anil quips, "Yes, I'm confident..." and goes on to add, "The film has collected `61.9 crore in just 10 days and it created a record of sorts in the fist week itself. The film is still running to packed houses and it's too early to comment on it. However, I am sure it will create more and more records."

With the success of the film attracting attention from across industries, has this resulted in filmmakers from other film industries vying for remake rights? "We are screening the film forSalman Khan with subtitles. If he agrees we would love to produce the Hindi film too as Srinu agreed to direct the film. Apart from Salman Khan, two more Hindi actors have expressed their desire to watch the film. From Tamil, Vijay and Ajith are vying for this film. We would like to produce in Tamil too, but it's too early to say anything. Right now we are concentrating on the "Dookudu" promotional campaign. We are going on tours this week to boost collections," explains Anil.

While the response in the state is mindboggling, the interest shown by overseas distributors in the film has taken Anil by surprise. "New distributors from Netherlands, Germany and South Africa have bought the rights of "Dookudu", apart from the regular distributors in the US, Dubai,Singapore, Malaysia and the UK. But what surprised me the most was the call I got from Nairobi for distribution rights," says Anil.

Also, with the " LA Times" carrying an article on the film, Anil is over the moon. "This is a proud moment not only for me and the "Dookudu" team, but the whole industry."