Annagaru’s Delayed Damage Control – Will It Work Now?

Nothing went right for Karthi’s recent release Vaa Vaathiyaar( Annagaru Vostaru). The film initially got postponed several times and later faced legal issues before hitting the screens for Pongal festival. And finally, the film faced outright rejection from audiences and left no trace at the box office.

Moreover, the film didn’t get a Telugu release despite the fact that Karthi commands decent market in Telugu states. Then, the makers tried to quickly over compensate and released the film by dubbing in different on OTT platform in just two weeks after its release. The result is no different because the digital release also didn’t get much traction. 

What was more embarrassing for Karthi and his team was the backlash from Telugu moviegoers over the careless execution of some episodes in the Telugu version. As the story has several references of late legendary Kollywood actor MGR and the Telugu title Annagaru was inspired by the popular nickname of iconic actor NTR, the dubbed version in Telugu should feature NTR’s scenes in the place of MGR. 

But, the makers completely mishandled the Telugu version and messed up with the editing much to the disappointment of viewers. The team simply retained the visuals of MGR and modified dialogues with NTR references. This nonchalant approach lead to a terrible and awful output which could have been easily avoided with more careful approach from Karthi. 

For his previous films, Karthi took due care and attention keeping his market and craze among Telugu audiences while dubbing his films. But, Annagaru Vostaru turned out to a product of total negligence and taking audiences for granted. 

More than a month after the OTT release, the team is now on a course correction mode. After facing severe criticism and anger from viewers, they are now bringing the updated version. Many feel that damage has already been done and any rectification that is now being done only might lessen the intensity. 

Is it too late from Karthi or will it work out in favour of the team ? We have to wait and see the reaction of audiences.