The verdict on Akhanda 2 is out, and the film is clearly heading towards a flop. Poor collections on the first Monday and Tuesday have confirmed that the film is set to incur heavy losses.
Distributors across territories are expected to suffer losses ranging between 30 and 40 percent, while the USA distributor alone is staring at a loss of over ₹5 crore.
The biggest question now is: who will compensate the distributors?
Even before the film’s release, production house 14 Reels Plus had its hands full with financial troubles, struggling to clear pending dues.
The company reportedly owed significant amounts to Eros International and local financiers.
The crisis was temporarily resolved only after Dil Raju, Mango Ram, and others stepped in to settle the issues.
However, with Akhanda 2 underperforming, there is little scope for any relief to distributors. They are likely to absorb the losses themselves.
Balakrishna and director Boyapati Srinu had already “sacrificed” a portion of their remuneration prior to the release to help clear earlier dues, and they are unlikely to extend any further financial support to distributors.
As a result, producers Gopi Achanta and Ram Achanta, who hoped this film would pull them out of financial distress and put them back on track, now find themselves in an even more difficult situation.
A major share of the blame rests with director Boyapati Srinu.
The film has failed to engage audiences, and the production costs were pushed to extreme levels without adequately factoring in the producers’ financial limitations or the film’s realistic market potential.
