New Delhi, April 8 -- Telugu film stars and makers are increasingly looking to dub their projects in multiple languages to cultivate a wider audience base, and boosting investments in visual effects and production value. The entire process, while enhancing the grandeur of the final product, is delaying the theatrical release of movies. The trend that started with S.S. Rajamouli's blockbuster Baahubali has encouraged actors to replicate the film's success by going pan-India.

However, this strategy means that top stars who would earlier see at least one release annually are now taking two to three years to come up with new films. This has meant that the pipeline of new films featuring top stars has almost dried, denting box-office prospect...