How Chiranjeevi’s Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu carried Telugu cinema through the first quarter of 2026

Prabhas’ The Raja Saab arrived on January 9 carrying enormous weight. The actor was coming off Kalki 2898 AD, his biggest commercial outing yet, and director Maruthi had a solid track record. The horror-comedy premise was novel for a film of this scale. Opening day collections looked healthy at around Rs 100 crore worldwide. However, the film ended its run at Rs 146.04 crore India net as per Sacnilk, against a reported Rs 400 crore budget. It is the same story that played out with Guntur Kaaram in 2024 and Game Changer in 2025 and before that too.

Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu released three days after, on January 12, and quickly made the season its own. The film was directed by Anil Ravipudi, who has now delivered four consecutive Sankranthi blockbusters, and starred Chiranjeevi alongside Nayanthara, Catherine Tresa, and Venkatesh in an extended supporting role. The title comes from Chiranjeevi’s actual birth name, Sivasankara Varaprasad, which generated genuine emotional buy-in before anyone even bought a ticket. According to Sacnilk, the film opened at Rs 41.6 crore India net. It crossed Rs 100 crore domestically in four days. Break-even came in six days, eventually becoming the first Rs 300 crore grosser of Chiranjeevi’s career.

Ravi Teja’s Bhartha Mahasayulaku Wignyapthi, directed by Kishore Tirumala and released on January 13, was always going to struggle for screens against two bigger releases. That makes six consecutive failures for Ravi Teja, a streak the trade has stopped trying to explain.

Ravi Teja, Dimple Dimple and Ashika Ranganath in Bhartha Mahasayulaku Wignyapthi. (Credit: @ravitejaoffl/X)

On January 14, Naveen Polishetty’s Anaganaga Oka Raju released the same day as Sharwanand’s Nari Nari Naduma Murari, a  competitive slot that neither of them asked for. Polishetty came out of it looking considerably better. His romantic comedy, directed by Maari, earned Rs 53.9 crore India net. Sharwanand’s film, a love-triangle comedy directed by Ram Abbaraju, earned Rs 26.33 crore India net per Sacnilk on a Rs 20 crore budget. Not a disaster, but not what anyone had hoped for.

Om Shanti Shanti Shantihi, a remake of the Malayalam hit Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey and starring Tharun Bhascker and Eesha Rebba, released on January 30 to a mixed response and moved to OTT on Aha Video by February 4. Five days is a short theatrical run by any standard.

Twenty films in February, zero profits

February 2026 will be remembered as the month Tollywood saw around 20 releases, none of which turned a profit at the box office.

Gunasekhar’s Euphoria hit screens on February 6. A social drama about the gang rape of a minor by underage schoolboys, inspired by real events and framed within the POCSO Act, it starred Bhumika Chawla, Sara Arjun, and Vignesh Gavireddy with a score by Kaala Bhairava. While the movie received critical acclaim, the problem was almost nobody saw it in theatres. According to Sacnilk, it collected around Rs 30 lakh in its first three days, on a very limited release and a reported Rs 3 crore budget. It was the kind of serious, carefully made film that should have found an audience and instead found an OTT platform in April.

Vishwak Sen’s Funky, directed by K.V. Anudeep and co-starring Kayadu Lohar, opened on February 13. There was reasonable pre-release curiosity given the combination. The film earned Rs 8.95 crore India net against a Rs 25 crore budget. A clear flop, and one of the more expensive failures of the quarter.

Vishwak Sen and Kayadu Lohar in Funky. (Credit: @vishwaksenactor/ X)

The quarter’s most heartening story came the very next day, Valentine’s Day, which is either a coincidence or the result of very sharp release planning. Couple Friendly, directed by Ashwin Chandrasekar and starring Santosh Sobhan and Manasa Varanasi, is a straightforward romantic drama about two young people sharing a rented home in Chennai. With a reported budget of Rs 1-2 crore, the film had no stars, no buzzworthy songs ahead of release, and virtually no marketing campaign to speak of. But, by Day 11, it had earned Rs 8.13 crore at the India box office, as per Sacnilk, delivering over 700 percent return on investment and becoming one of the the most profitable Telugu films of the year so far.

Later in the month, Hey Balwanth, a comedy starring Suhas, Shivani Nagaram, and Naresh, opened at Rs 95 lakh and closed at Rs 5.38 crore India net on a Rs 9 crore budget. Nawab Cafe, starring Shiva Kandukuri and Rajeev Kanakala as a father and son at odds over their family’s historic Irani chai cafe near Charminar, earned Rs 44 lakh India net in its entire run on a Rs 5 crore budget. The film had originally been called Chai Wala before the CBFC raised objections. Seethapayanam, directed by actor Arjun and featuring his daughter Sara Arjun, also released during February and collected negligible numbers.

Vishnu Vinyasam, Sree Vishnu’s romantic comedy about a numerology-obsessed lecturer, directed by Yadunaath Maruthi Rao and co-starring Nayana Sarika, arrived on February 27 and earned Rs 9.45 crore India net in its first six days on a Rs 20 crore budget. The film neither recovered costs nor was able to bank on Sree Vishnu’s popularity.

Also Read – Malayalam cinema’s Q1 2026 was disappointing and heartbreaking, until Aadu 3 saved it

Hope spikes in March, then the familiar thud

March opened with a quiet week, as it usually does during the season, with a mix of films releasing to negligible response.

Mrithyunjay, an investigative thriller with Sree Vishnu as a crime reporter, opened on March 6 and earned Rs 6.95 crore India net on a Rs 14 crore budget. For Sree Vishnu it was the second consecutive commercial setback within barely a week of Vishnu Vinyasam, making it a particularly grim stretch for an actor who had built genuine goodwill in the mid-budget space over several years.

Then came March 19, and with it, the biggest Telugu release of the quarter. Ustaad Bhagat Singh had all the ingredients for a Ugadi blockbuster. Pawan Kalyan, Harish Shankar, and a reunion fourteen years in the making since Gabbar Singh (2012). The film features Pawan Kalyan as a forest officer with a vigilante streak, with Sreeleela and Raashii Khanna as the female leads. It was also one of his first major theatrical releases since taking office as Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister. The opening day saw a collection of Rs 34.75 crore India net, according to Sacnilk. On Day 2, the film dropped 74 percent to Rs 9 crore. The film eventually closed at Rs 72.38 crore India net and Rs 97.25 crore worldwide gross against a Rs 150 crore budget, recovering just 48.16 percent of cost. It became Pawan Kalyan’s lowest-grossing film in the post-COVID era and the only one in that period to fall below Rs 100 crore globally.

The irony is that the film sharing its release date, Dhurandhar 2, a Hindi spy actioner starring Ranveer Singh, performed strongly enough in Telugu states to keep multiplex owners solvent through March.

What’s in store for Telugu cinema?

The rest of 2026 carries real weight for Tollywood. Ram Charan’s Peddi, a rural wrestling drama, arrives in June with the pressure of reversing his Game Changer disappointment. Akhil Akkineni follows on June 26 with Lenin, desperate for a comeback after Agent. August belongs to Nani’s The Paradise, directed by Srikanth Odela, already building strong buzz. Prabhas targets Dasara with Fauzi, a 1940s period drama from Hanu Raghavapudi. Jr NTR’s Dragon with Prashanth Neel, however, looks increasingly like a 2027 story.