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Trump’s Policies Impacting Telugu Cinema in the USA?
People from the Telugu film industry and trade circles are speculating about the potential impact of Donald Trump’s new immigration policies, announced on January 21, 2025, on the Telugu film business in the USA. A sense of panic has emerged among the Telugu diaspora regarding their future in the country following the announcement.
Adding to the anxiety, authorities have been conducting multiple raids over the past three to four weeks at restaurants, gas stations, and other establishments to identify students exceeding their permitted part-time work hours. Severe actions against such students have caused widespread fear, leading many to refrain from taking up part-time jobs in recent weeks.
With these developments, Telugu film distributors are concerned about audience turnout in theatres, particularly for premiere shows. Post-COVID, the surge in the Telugu student diaspora in the USA has significantly boosted opening-day box office collections. Students attending premiere shows and paying extra for tickets have become a critical factor in helping distributors recover their investments, especially for mid-range and big-budget films.
The question now is whether Trump’s immigration policy changes and the crackdown on students’ part-time work hours are directly affecting the Telugu film business in the USA. The answer appears to be “yes,” if the performance of Naga Chaitanya and Sai Pallavi’s Thandel is any indication.
Thandel is the first notable Telugu release after Trump’s policy announcement. The film had everything working in its favor—the songs became chartbusters pre-release, the production house Geetha Arts undertook extensive promotions, and the lead pair had already delivered a blockbuster with Love Story. Moreover, the distributor maintained standard ticket pricing from the premiere itself, unlike many recent films that opted for increased prices. Adding to these factors, the film received decent to good reviews from almost all media outlets, along with positive word-of-mouth from audiences.
Given all these advantages, Thandel should have performed exceptionally well. However, its box office numbers in the USA have been underwhelming. The film opened to a decent but not spectacular start with its Thursday premieres, and there was no visible growth throughout the weekend. Even the premiere collections were just average when they should have been much stronger. So far, the film has collected approximately $700K+ in the USA, which is considered below par given its positive reception.
It is still too early to make a definitive statement on the long-term impact of Trump’s new immigration policies and the crackdown on student work hours on the Telugu film business. However, Thandel’s performance raises concerns. If upcoming Telugu films face a similar trend, there could be a notable decline in revenues from the USA market, which has been a crucial region for Telugu cinema. The performance of the next few major releases will determine whether this is an isolated case or an early sign of a larger issue affecting the industry.