I am from Kerala, Why I feel Telugu is the best movie industry in India today
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I am from Kerala . But its not Malayalam Cinema, I feel Telugu is the best movie making industry in India today. More than the number of quality movies, its the “range” that is amazing – It can go from the mighty big scale Bahubali series to the small and beautiful Care of Kancharapalem.
A look at Telugu films in last 6 years ( from 2015) to see how well this industry is doing across all genre of Cinema.
SS Rajamouli changed Big Scale Cinema in India forever : Between 2015 and 2017 , SS Rajamouli made Bahubali 1 and 2 and completely bridged the gap between Bollywood and South. Its very surprising Bollywood hasn’t made movies near the production quality of Bahubali in last 6 years ( maybe with the exception of only War). And Malayalam Cinema stopped being this ambitious. You can say we have budget constraints. But we have to remember we made Yodha in 1992 in a way the rest of the country couldn’t imagine.
Great Screenplays for Mass entertainers: Even behind all the gloss of Bahubali series, its major strength is Rajamouli’s screenplay writing which gives thrilling moments at regular intervals. Sukumar’s Rangasthalam is another example of how a strong screenplay is still the backbone of great big scale entertainers. This one had some really thrilling moments.
Ability to churn out total time pass entertainers – Trivikram Srinivas’s Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo followed all basics of a total paisa vasool entertainer-with comedy, action, dance, songs and emotions in the right proportions. It also had great music and a lead actor in supreme form. In Malayalam, we could say that we are not interested to see such films. But the fact is also that we never had a young actor since Mohanlal in 90s who could do all this in one movie- action, romance, comedy, dance.
Stylish Thrillers : Now Adivi Sesh has his own universe of thrillers -They are taut, stylish and importantly thrilling! I loved all 3 of his movies since 2016 – Kshanam, Goodachari and Evaru. I was particularly impressed by how Evaru deviated from the Spanish Original and still stood tall ! Production quality of these movies is again top notch!Refreshing ideas for Romcom Genre: Telugu shines in Romance Comedies too. They can take simple yet different story threads and develop to really fun movies in this genre. Think about how refreshing is the first half of Pelli choopulu – The boy and girl get locked in a room, share their stories and towards the interval realize they are in the wrong house ! Bhale Bhale Magadivoy, Fida, Chi La Sow are more good examples in Romcoms. Today Telugu gets the best ideas for romcoms in the country without a doubt.Arjun Reddy’s influence – Arjun Reddy may have problems. But there is no doubt that it became a sensation across the country. That it got remakes in Tamil and Hindi are enough to prove this fact.
Jersey– An absolute classic in Sports Genre – How does Telugu keep getting such innovative ideas – This time the story of a failed player for a Sports genre movie not only broke normal conventions of the sports genre but it struck a chord with all. Naani is an exceptional actor in Telugu and he really had lot more enjoyable movies in recent years. This scene from Jersey !
Smart Bilinguals-Oopiri and Janatha Garage shows how Telugu is smart in making bilingual movies with other languages and using the talented actors outside. Have to say Tamil Cinema didn’t utilize Mohanlal this well in past decade or more in the way his character in Janatha Garage was given space and depth to perform.
Brilliant Small movies with big heart – While it is not a surprise that Telugu Cinema shines in big scale movies, it is Care of Kancharapalem that completely changed my perception of this industry on how it could be revolutionary in Small Cinema too. Wrapped with a lovely message, I didn’t see that final sweet twist coming!
Cinema Bandi – Again a small scale movie that is in news this month from Telugu Cinema and that has won our hearts. Few villagers come across a lost camera and decides to make a film using it. Dear Telugu Cinema – How do you keep getting these ideas ! Great Biographical movies – Mallesham is perhaps a less known but terrific small film. This biographical film on Chintakindi Mallesham (who invented the Lakshmi Asu machine that reduced the efforts required by weavers) had a moving act from its lead actor- Priyadarshi ! Coming to Mahanati – the Biopic on the popular actress Savithri, we all know that it made waves
Cast is no restraint in making good movies – For an example of why how Telugu can make wonders even with a small cast, we have Brochevarevarura !
Brave to experiment: To know how Telugu industry is brave to experiment – Watch the wildly crazy Awe. This was one of a kind movie experience in recent times !
The biggest laugh out loud comedy in recent times: Finally we have Jathi Ratnalu to know how Telugu made the biggest laugh out loud comedy movie in recent times when this genre was not coming easily for any other industry. Naveen Polishetty is a serious talent in comedy and had already proved his worth once before in Agent Sai Srinivasa Athreya only 2 years back. “Hell and Heaven – Telugu Cinema is doing great” !
** Minor spoilers ahead ** Its few hours since I completed watching Drishyam 2 . But I am still stunned. “What would be Georgekutty’s next move?”. The fact that the viewers failed to guess this in the 2013 movie Drishyam is what gave it the masterpiece status. 7 years later after having enough time to […]
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