Special Column : All eyes on Telugu cinema in 2017
Published on Jan 6, 2017 12:15 pm IST

TFI
In 1957, a miracle like never before happened in Telugu cinema that turned all eyes towards Telugu cinema. That miracle was Mayabazar movie. It showed India the true potential of Telugu cinema for the first time and all of India sat up and took notice. Mayabazar was a true masterpiece in every sense, not just the special effects. The script, the storytelling, the music, the acting, and the sets were all top notch.

Then in 1989, a movie library owner changed the face of Telugu cinema totally with a cult classic movie. The movie was Siva and his name was Ram Gopal Varma. That movie and that person, especially, later went on to put back Telugu cinema on Indian map. He changed how movies are made and can be made both in Telugu and Bollywood. Though he does not associate himself much with anyone or any cinema, he surely is a pride of Telugu cinema.

Telugu cinema has been growing leaps and bounds off late but in its own tune. There is no more a dearth of experimenting filmmakers. The big heroes have started co-producing their movies in order to help the budget of the movies.They have realized that they cannot stick to the genres that worked for them once and have to start experimenting. The big directors started producing small-budget movies with newcomers. The audience has become ruthless at rejecting inexcusable movies, even if they are in their favorite genre, family movies.

But at the same time, they began accepting newer genres. And then we had Bahubali. What Bahubali did to Telugu cinema and even Indian cinema is unprecedented. It’s after effects are still being felt in all movie industries across India. Suddenly the canvas for the filmmakers became larger and the imaginations flew right through the sky. And once again, all eyes turned to Telugu cinema.

By end of 2017, the Telugu cinema as we know it would have changed. Of course, most of it would be credited to Bahubali – The Conclusion. All eyes of Indian cinema are focused on Telugu cinema and the magic of Bahubali. But we have more to look forward to. Both Allu Arjun and NTR have established themselves well outside the two Telugu states and especially Kerala. Their next movies are eagerly awaited both in and out of the Telugu states.

Mahesh is all set for his first bilingual in Telugu and Tamil which is having huge expectations riding on it. Ram Charan gained great mileage across the wide spectrum of the audience with hugely successful Dhruva and so his next with Sukumar is already a hotcake. In just the coming week we have two huge movies releasing. Chiranjeevi’s Khaidi No 150, a remake of Tamil blockbuster Kaththi, is being eagerly awaited by many interested makers in Bollywood to remake it.

Then Balakrishna’s Gowtamiputra Satakarni is the story of a famous Telugu warrior king who made Telugu people proud centuries ago. This movie helmed by Krish is no less than Bahubali in grandeur or scope. Besides these, we also have heroes Nani, Nikhil, Nitin, Naga Chaitanya etc all back in form and with interesting line-ups. 2017 surely looks thrilling for Telugu audience and promising for Telugu cinema. And with so many eyes on our Telugu cinema, let’s hope that we come out with flying colors one movie at a time.

Column by Rohit (Opinions expressed are his own)

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