Cinema is all about make-believe. Even a kid can tell you this.

But in Tollywood they seem to have taken this a bit too far as it is no longer possible to tell where fact stops and where fiction begins.

Take for instance reports about film collections. Industry grapevine has it that most of these reports are highly sexed up. A bird in the distributor network chirps that many films, which are deemed to be successful have had anemic collections at the box office.

A recent film of a top hero (with two heroines) is said to be a typical case in point. Though the movie had a decent opening, it quickly hit a downward spiral as it collections tapered. But somehow the media reports have been saying that the film is a hit. Ditto is the case with another film of an up and coming robust hero with a rich lineage in the industry. Though the movie is still running, it collections are nothing much to write home about. But some media reports have suggested that is the number one film in the running.

The recent shoot-out involving a frontline star and the producer of his last film is a good example. The film was touted as a winner at the box-office. But the fight between the hero and the producer was over sharing the losses of the film.

Many distributors say that these days of intense competition and short shelf-life, the number of prints and the initial collections alone matter. "It is impossible to have sustained pickings for 100 days. It is just not on. Instead, producers try to make a killing in the first 15 days itself. That is why you have lot of prints these days," says a leading distributor in the Vijayawada region.

The dynamics of film-making have changed and so has the business, he says.

So next time when some star or a producer says that his film is a hit, ask him whether he is using the word literally or figuratively.