Mar 14, 2026 3:41pm IST
Allu Sirish: ‘Indian Cinema Has Closed the Tech Gap With Hollywood, But Distribution Remains the Hurdle’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Allu Arjun recently launched Allu Cinemas, Hyderabad’s first Dolby Cinema theatre. The launch comes at a time when two major releases — Ranveer Singh’s “Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge” and Pawan Kalyan’s “Ustaad Bhagat Singh” are gearing up for their March 19 release.
Speaking to Variety India, Allu Sirish said the theatre reflects his father Allu Aravind’s vision to create a landmark cinema experience in the city.
“This is India’s largest Dolby Cinema screen. People associate Dolby only with sound, but they have also developed proprietary technology that can display far more colors than rival formats. It’s superior in terms of color and sound, and audiences need to experience a film in a full Dolby set-up to understand what we’re trying to bring,” he said.
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Sirish added that the project was driven by Aravind’s desire to build something iconic. “My dad wanted to make something memorable for the city. He said, ‘I’ll delay my break-even and spend big, but I want to create something that Hyderabad will remember.’”
Beyond the theatre launch, Sirish spoke about the changing landscape of Indian cinema and the narrowing technological gap with Hollywood.
“South cinema has always tried to push the bar. Even in the ’90s filmmakers like Shankar were experimenting with motion capture and CG. Earlier there was a budget limitation if Hollywood did something, we had to wait five to seven years to access that technology. Today that gap has collapsed.”
“I think this is the best time for filmmakers. Budget is no longer the same constraint and we now have access to the same kind of technology. The next five to seven years are going to be very exciting for Indian cinema.”
However, Sirish believes technology is no longer the biggest challenge. Distribution, he says, remains the real hurdle if Indian films want to compete globally.
“We have cracked the technology part. The bigger challenge will be distribution. Hollywood can release films in 190 countries dubbed in dozens of languages. If Indian cinema truly wants to compete globally in terms of reach, we need to crack that distribution model.”
He also stressed the urgent need for more theatres across the country, particularly outside major cities.
“It is absolutely necessary for India to have more theatres. We currently have a very metro-centric view of the market. But the real growth lies in tier-two and tier-three cities.”
“The small town audience is far more rooted and often prioritizes Indian films over Hollywood titles. Yet the industry has been focused mainly on metro audiences, leaving a huge potential market untapped.”
Sirish also pointed out that language is no longer a barrier for Indian cinema.
“Language used to be a limitation, but today technology has made that easier to overcome. Films travel much faster across regions now. But the real question is can we reach the last mile through distribution?”
He also highlighted the worrying decline in theatre infrastructure.
“Twenty or thirty years ago, even the smallest towns had theatres. That is slowly disappearing. Many single screens have shut down. In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana alone, the screen count has dropped from around 2,700 theatres in the early 2000s to about 1,900 today. Multiplexes are adding screens, but we are not accounting for the single screens that have closed.
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