The Big 7 of The Telugu Industry

The Classiest Movie Of All Time: Shankarabharanam (1979)
'God' Of The Matinee: NT Rama Rao
Ultimate Lover Of The Matinee: Akkineni Nageshwar Rao
Starriest Star: Chiranjeevi
Biggest Grosser Ever: Pokiri (2006)
Funniest Movie Ever: Mayabazar (1957)
Tollywood's Best Export To Mumbai: Sridevi

For mathematicians, it could be just a statistic. 240 movies released every year and Rs 2.3 billion in the last one year. For the producers, it is a boost to their current account. Seven hundred million tickets sold annually, for the bees ka challees wallahs, it is just an awesome figure. But for the Telugu moviegoer, a matinee show is not just a three hour pastime. It is part of his life, an element of his psyche, a component of his lifestyle and a piece of his very being.

Seventy-five years since the first Telugu movie hit the screens, the movie mania continues to hold the Telugus spellbound. How else can you explain the mushrooming of 2,700 theatres across the state? Magic of the movies? Call it mania. An obsession. A passion. Or simply Telugu cinema.

Perhaps the biggest milestone of the industry was the shifting of headquarters from Chennai to Hyderabad and starting off from scratch to build the most exotic film cities in the world.

On the whole, the 75 years of Telugu cinema can be summed up as phenomenal. Barring the post-World War II period when the British levied a ban on movies, nothing else could shake the industry.

While the quality of lyrics has plummeted, the number of young maverick directors has skyrocketed. If the sons of the soil have got a raw deal and are trying their luck in Bollywood imports, the advent of star sons has compensated for this unfortunate trend. If digital intermediaries, animation, CG(computer graphics) and SFX (special effects) has pushed up Tollywood's worth by a couple of notches, copies and inspirations pull it down by a couple of rungs. Tollywood has been breaking new ground in every single decade. The first decade marked the theatre artistes facing the camera; the second decade was about mythologicals. The third centred around socially-relevant themes such as freedom and poverty etc. The fourth was the decade of epics and devotionals. The fifth included love stories, tragedies, classics et al. The sixth opened doors to family dramas and the seventh opened doors to sentiment and love. The seventh was musicals, romance, action and violence.

Each decade gave birth to a new set of filmmakers who added a new dimension. If K Vishwanath put Indian music on a pedestal with his 'S' series, Ramgopal Varma brought in the Hollywood action and revenge dramas amidst the gaana bajana. If lyricist Srisri motivated the youngsters to take up the cudgels for society with his motivational songs,

Sirivennela cocktailed chaste Telugu with colloquial Telugu to produce fresh lyrics. In terms of sheer technical brilliance, the cinematographer took Telugu cinema to new heights, be it with his camera angles or Digital Intermediaries. Interestingly, the stars of the new age have also done their bit for the society. If not directly, but by gently guiding their fan force into social service.

Like any industry, Tollywood too had its ups and downs, awesome flicks and some bakwas movies. But the promise is that there are new paths being explored, fresher ideas being incorporated and path breaking trends. That spirit is enough to celebrate 75 years of Telugu cinema. Salaam Tollywoood!

Andhra girls ignore Tollywood

It’s unfair to blame Tollywood for not taking any girls from Andhra as heroines argues director Krishnavamsi. He says that it’s the girls who are not interested in doing Telugu films. The director reveals that he contacted nearly 60 girls when he was casting for his newly released film Chandamama, but no one showed any interest. "This lack of inclination can be due to lack of courage to pursue a career in films, safety issues and fear of parents," says Krishnavamsi. But he is quick to add that there is nothing wrong with Tollywood for girls to shy away from the industry.

To prove that Tollywood isn’t biased the director who was in Vijayawada to participate in a function to celebrate his film’s success with the lead heroines Sindhu Menon and Kajal Agarwal (both girls aren’t from AP) said, "I shall bring 10 directors to Vijayawada, but show me a single girl who wants to act."

Producers’ Council Chairman C. Kalyan too agrees with Krishnavamsi as he says, "There is a dearth of local girls in our films, so we are forced to go to other cities like Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore. No girl is available here." Noted comedian Uttej also complains that there are no good looking girls with a firm command over the language. This is sad because nearly 100 films are produced by Tollywood every year and none of these films have any local girls in the lead role.