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The Los Angeles Times says "Dookudu the biggest hit you've never heard of. While Hindi-oriented movies some times land on domestic box-office charts, reminding the American film industry of the shadow economy that is indian cinema in the US, it's a rarer for a Tollywood film to full of the feat." it says.

The most popular movies at the multiplex this past weekend included some familiar titles: "The Lion King,"  "Moneyball," "Drive" and "Dookudu: Daring & Dashing."

Doo-wha?

"Dookudu," an Indian cinema offering that blends action, comedy, romance and dance sequences  (don't they always?), scored three of the seven most lucrative engagements around the country, according to the trade newspaper Variety. At a multiplex in Fairfax County, Va., the movie took in a whopping $82,000 over the weekend, a sum surpassed only by a trio of  "Moneyball" engagements (at gargantuan venues such as AMC Lincoln Square and Regal Union Square in Manhattan and the ArcLight in Hollywood).

The Virginia multiplex was an outlet of the Phoenix BIG chain, which programs Indian films along with the "Abductions" and "Dolphin Tales" of the world. (The other two engagements, incidentally, came in Edison, N.J., and suburban Dallas, where the film took in $73,000 and $71,000, respectively, over the weekend.)

Making the feat more striking: "Dookudu" is a Tollywood film, the nickname for the Telugu-language cinema from India's Andhra Pradesh region. While Hindi-oriented Bollywood movies sometimes land on domestic box-office charts, reminding the American film industry of the shadow economy that is Indian cinema in the U.S., it's rarer for a Tollywood film to pull off the feat.

So shadowy is said economy that box-office reporting sites like Hollywood.com did not even receive weekend tallies from the film's distributor (which makes a total weekend tally from the film's 30 screens impossible to report). The distributor did not reply to an email from 24 Frames seeking comment.

[Update, 4:36 p.m. Sept. 27: Harish Sajja of distributor 14 Reels Ent. tells 24 Frames that the movie has grossed $1.4 million in just three days, thanks largely to word of mouth (and despite the fact that, without subtitles, even many Indians aren't able to understand it). The previous record-holder for a Tollywood film is $1.2 million--over three months. Sajja hopes the movie holds this weekend and stays in theaters through the fall, even though it will have to compete with the glut of American films unleashed in the autumn months."It's a miracle," he said. "Nobody knows the movie is going to cross over like this."]

 Already a hit in India, the film pairs the very popular Mahesh Babu with the single-monikered Tollywood starlet Samantha in a two-hander that clocks in--in true India-cinema fashion--at a lightning-quick 3 hours and 10 minutes.

You can catch a trailer below, complete with "He is daring; he is dashing" tagline and enough quick cuts to make Baz Luhrmann look like Merchant Ivory. (If you want to catch the movie in the Southland, you'll have to head down to Norwalk, where it's screening opposite summer holdovers like "Transformers" and "Bad Teacher.")

So what made "Dookudu" so popular?  According to one Indian cinema website, which cited "sleek action sequences" and entertaining one-liners," it was a triumph of casting as much as anything else.

"Obviously, the most important is the star of the film, Mahesh Babu; then the film is directed by Srinu Vytla, who has earned a name for making mass entertainers [sic]. The presence of popular comedians Brahmanandam and M.S. Narayana in the film is also an asset, and ‘Dookudu’ has a beautiful heroine Samantha Ruth Prabhu, sharing screen space with Mahesh for the first time." 

Congrats Seenu Vaitla on the super success of Dookudu
Seenu Vaitla: Thank you!

Your feelings on Dookudu Setting New Tollywood records
I'm thrilled and never celebrated this much. All my previous films are on one side and Dookudu is on the other side. In fact, I never spoke non-stop on my mobile this much since my mobile is constantly ringing. I was very excited when I heard about Dookudu breaking records and the first day collections. Its very difficult to explain the feelings since there are so many great things happening at the same time. Cant ask for anything more!


Do you have any Predetermined notions before the start of this movie
Yes! We don’t want to compromise on anything. This is what me and Mahesh decided before commencing this project. We really are poised to make something really big and we are confident about the script and I'm very happy we've done that.


Dookudu is a Typical Seenu Vaitla's script. What's your say!
All my movies have lot of characters. The script consists of a multi-layered characters with sub-plots although it is wee bit confusing. I worked on this script for around 9 months and my dialogue writers helped me a lot in framing the characters. This makes things easy for me to write the screenplay and do justice to the multiple characters


About Brahmanandam and MS Narayana's Sattire
Its not a satire. Generally, so many aspiring come to me asking for chances. They bring show reel alongside and showcase to me and sometimes its really funny to see some of the shades. This has inspired me to write a character for MS Narayana in the movie as someone who is interested to become a hero. And Brahmi did a great job on the Padma Sri, a  character that is bigger than my previous films. I create unique names and characters (like Chicago Subba Rao, McDowells Murthy, etc) since it becomes easy for people to remember.


How could Dookudu script managed to have all commercial elements 
Yes! Any blockbuster needs sentiments, emotions, action, suspense, etc. All these ingredients are in a settled way in Dookudu to make it a blockbuster. The script itself is tightly knitted to ensure that scope for all these elements.


Father – Son Sentiment Worked Well?
When we were searching for the artiste to play father character, it was Mahesh Babu who recommended Prakas Raj and we have okayed it immediately. I think the father-son philosophy worked well in the movie.


How could you cast Samantha in this movie, considering her height besides Mahesh
I've seen Ye Maaya Chesave and Samantha has done a great job. I knew Mahesh Babu and Samantha's on-screen chemistry would touch and go but I'm looking for ana ctress who can act naturally and I thought she was apt for the role. Moreover, before anyone commented, I myself made Mahesh utter dialogues like 'Nee size enti... Naa size enti”.


Why Parvathi Melton for the item song 
Firstly, I don’t want to do an item song, instead, I want to do an old classic song like Helen who was the most popular vamp of that era. Helen had performed in scores of item numbers in such popular movies. So I want to shoot a song that has classic touch and appeal, and I thought Parvathi Melton was fit the bill.


Dialogues are the real highlight 
To me, creating situation is my strength and as such it is difficult  to write dialogue for my timing. After discussing with my writers, I finally write dialogues on my own. Kona Venkat is terrific writer and I took his help in penning down heroism dialogues.


On the criticism about the length of the movie.