September 2026 has not delivered particularly strong results for the Telugu film industry. While the theatrical run of “Irumudi”, which released in August, continued into the first few weeks of September, the month itself witnessed a string of underperforming films, with Nani’s “The Paradise” arriving towards the end.
The month began with “Romanchakam”, presented by Sandeep Reddy Vanga. The producers have stated that the film generated good returns for them, although its theatrical performance was fairly ordinary. It is unclear whether the makers fully recovered their theatrical investment through the business deals, but the film reportedly benefited from a lucrative OTT deal. Starring Sumanth Prabhas and Ananthika Sanilkumar as the lead pair, the film did not make a major impact at the box office.
The same weekend saw the release of Allari Naresh’s comedy drama “Ramba Oorvashi Menaka”, which failed to recover its theatrical investment. The dubbed Malayalam film “Bethlehem Kudumba Unti”, which emerged as the highest-grossing Malayalam film of all time, also failed to recreate its success in Telugu. Despite receiving decent reviews, the film could not make a significant impact due to limited publicity and promotions.
The second week brought multiple releases, including Karthi’s “Sardar 2” and Anand Deverakonda and Vaishnavi Chaitanya’s “Epic – First Semester”. Both films turned out to be major disappointments at the box office and faded away within the first weekend itself. Sumanth’s “Mahendragiri Varahi” and Ravi Teja’s nephew’s debut film “Maremma” also flopped.
Suhas’s first Tamil film, “Mandaadi”, emerged as a big hit in Tamil Nadu, but its Telugu version could only register a modest run.
The month ended with Nani’s “The Paradise”. Despite receiving harsh reviews and facing a negative campaign, the film has grossed around Rs 150 crore worldwide so far, making it the highest-grossing Telugu release of September.
verall, September turned out to be a largely underwhelming month for Telugu cinema, with “The Paradise” providing the biggest theatrical numbers while most of the other releases struggled to make a mark.
