Sankranthi 2023: The strange similarity between Kalyanam Kamaneeyam and Swathimuthyam

Sankranthi and Dasara are among the most popular festivals celebrated across the Telugu states. Cinema, since times immemorial, has continued to be an integral part of the celebration. Over the years, a minimum of three biggies schedule their releases for these festivals and there were many occasions where all the films succeeded at the box office. This time around, the fight is among two biggies significantly, Waltair Veerayya and Veera Simha Reddy besides Santosh Shobhan starrer Kalyanam Kamaneeyam.

There’s a belief in trade circles that solid content-driven/small-budget films, when released along with biggies, always tend to perform well. The logic here is that those who don’t get tickets for either of the films wouldn’t want to return home disappointed and would end up watching the small film somehow. While it’s a time-tested idea, this strategy didn’t work out for the Dasara release in 2022, Swathimuthyam,that was sandwiched between Chiranjeevi’s Godfather and Nagarjuna’s The Ghost.

While the box office fight was between Chiranjeevi and Nagarjuna for Dasara 2022, it is between the former and Balakrishna in Sankranthi 2023. The footfalls for the Sankranthi releases are expected to be immense in Telugu states every year. With Waltair Veerayya and Veera Simha Reddy being marketed as mass entertainers and owing to the stardom of the veterans, they will turn out to be minimum-guarantee crowd pullers in the first weekend.

Will Kalyanam Kamaneeyam make a mark amidst the much-hyped clash? With a decent trailer, the feel-good family drama has gained some momentum, grabbing eyeballs within the industry and viewers alike. Even in terms of content, Swathmuthyam in Dasara 2022 got good reviews but couldn’t translate into box-office collections. With the support of a reputed banner like UV Creations, Kalyanam Kamaneeyam would start off as a dark horse next week while good word-of-mouth talk is likely to prove crucial.