No buzz for ‘Sarkar’ in Telugu

‘Sarkar’.  This Vijay film needs no introduction in Tamil.  But in Telugu, it needs one!  The reason is that it’s hitting the screens this Tuesday and most of the audiences don’t even know this.  

Now, this is no ordinary movie.  Its Tamil original is expected to take one of the greatest openings in the history of Kollywood.  Different reports say that the drama will be gracing 2700-3000 screens or thereabouts (Tamil plus Telugu) across the world.  Directed by AR Murugadoss, ‘Sarkar’ has music by AR Rahman and stars Keerthy Suresh as the heroine.  It has a “riveting” political plot.  

Ideally, such a film should have gained decent buzz in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where a good number of screens seem to have been arranged for screening.  But ground reports prove there is no awareness and enthusiasm in the audience for the movie.  

Reasons are many. Promotions have been weak.  A pre-release event in Hyderabad was announced but it was not held.  Vijay was expected to grace the occasion.  It never happened and there hasn’t been any communication.  

Forget Vijay, even AR Murugadoss hasn’t spoken to the Telugu media.  This is surprising, given that he is a well-known director here.  

‘Sarkar’ has clearly failed to bank upon the popularity that Vijay got in the Telugu states after ‘Thupaki’.  His previous film ‘Mersal’ was released as ‘Adirindhi’ in Telugu.  It did an okayish business.

Call it lack of strategy or whatever, the makers of ‘Sarkar’ have lost an opportunity to create curiosity around their product.