Tollywood…..where are we in the Indian cinema scape???

(I am using Bollywood as a yardstick in this article.  Because, according to me, it is the most contemporary cinema in India. It can be used as an example to as of how much more can be done.

And,in the south, i am using Tamil as the rating scale as  it is arguably the second  best after Bollywood.)

I recently watched the grand premiere of Raavan in London..I saw Vikram there and was really happy that a South Indian is about to make it big in the coveted “BTown”… And, it is a known fact that Bollywood is the most contemperory industry in India, talk stories or actors, performances or market. Not that this would be a scale to rate the ever so brilliant actor. But, I would definitely say that this would be the next best thing in the iconic actor’s career. Personally for Vikram himself, it would definitely be a bigger platform to showcase his prowess to a wider and a different audience. Now, he will get to do a different kind of cinema than he has done down south because Hindi cinema is a whole lot different to Tamil cinema.So is the audience.

The case in hand, though, is not vikram or Bollywood. So, that day I was sitting on my couch, proud of a south Indian making it big, i was thinking, generally,about tollywood as Vikram has done quite a few telugu flicks as well.Then,it suddenly occured to me that we are nowhere in the picture that is,Indian cinema. There is arguably no significant contribution to Indian cinema by our own industry,tollywood. Be it in terms of great stories being remade, or a good technician like a director, a music director or a choreographer. The only significant case, is that of Ram Gopal Varma. He is a personal favourite of mine. Barring him, there is no one else that i could think of.So is the case with an actor,an actress or a charecter artiste.Talking  actors,there is,according to me, only two heavyweights from south cinema who have also done Hindi cinema. And,no prizes for guessing, Kamal Haasan and RajniKanth it is. But, neither has  telugu industry as their mainstay nor were they the products or discoveries of our industry. Coming to actresses,we might boast about a few like Genelia or Shriya Or Asin but, we got to know that they did not do exclusive telugu cinema. They have done Telugu cinema along with all the other regional languages with Tamil as their mainstay. So, where exactly are we?? I think that now is better than never. Or as many others put it, “better late than never”. So, I sat there doing a bit of a retrospect.Then, i have pondered on some quite intriguing aspects about our industry that i wanted to share with you.

Firstly, how long has it been since either Kamal Hassan or Rajni Kanth has done a direct and a charectersitic telugu movie?? And why did Ram Gopal Varma not come back to his roots after being such a massive filmmaker in Bollywood?? How many Telugu films has Aishwarya Rai done ??(Here, we need to note that she has done quite a few Tamil flicks). How many Telugu movies have attracted the attention of  the audience nationwide?? How many actors/actresses from our industryhave made it big in the wider picture?? Or has the industry,as a whole,created any impact at all in terms of meaningful flicks,nice technical detail?? Do we have an attribute that distingushes us from all other industries??(For Tamil, it is the meaningful and believable stories and scripts they pen down.For Bollywood, its the sheer magnitude of the industry,perfectionist actors,really good technicians. )

Are we self content ??

Are we too full of ourselves??

Don’t we want to make the big impact on the wider audience and reach out to them??

Do we lack what it takes??

I would say that Tamil cinema is the biggest Industry of all  the South Indian industries. It churns out many movies a year and it produces meaningful cinema. The stories there don’t revolve around the age old girl meets boy and happily ever after formula with a six songs and four fights. Tamil remakes like Premisthe, Shambho Shiva Shambho,Ghajini are examples out of many others.

But, we do follow the format, barring a few recent exceptions. This is a predominant sketch of filmmaking prevalant in the industry. A kind of an unwritten rulebook for making commercially succesful movies has been set. And, the filmmakers do not want to risk it, so don’t the producers, because they were getting their revenue back making movies that way. If the movie has a so-called star, then, it has to have the attributes of the star to it. It is lengthy and fierce dialogues for some, dance and  revenge stories for some,and a lot of style and family story mixed with comedy for some others.Each one has their own stronghold,based on which the movies were predominantly written for them.Ours should have been the only industry in which stories are written for actors.  The fans have been watching this kind of movies since long and been liking them. so,no one wants to come out of the mould. If it is for the other actors barring the fab four, some have comedy as their mainstay with a fast paced accent and punchlines, some one else has a lover boy tag.So, every one has their own forte. If this is the case, with the prevalant monotony, where is the scope to expirement and where is the scope to make a different cinema??

We needed some gutsy filmmakers and some actors with a star status to expirement. The filmmakers answered to the calling first. The first of them, according to me, is  Shekar Kammula. I would say that he pioneered the making of different cinema and breaking the monotony.When he thought that stars could not fit the bill of acting in his movies, he cast lesser known actors and newcomers. The next best Thing, I would say, is Siddarth. He never obliged to the need of making masala cinema. He always Innovated and tried to do something new. Then, filmmakers picked up and there came “Bommarillu” Bhaskar, and more recently Sai Kiran Adivi, making the feel good “Vinayakudu” series of movies. The first actor to do “only” different cinema though, is “Allari” Naresh. He has never failed to amuse the audience with his comedies. There was one point when he released a couple of movies a year and the both used to do better than all the other beaten up stories. when he was going good juggling with comedy and a sensible serious role sometimes, Came arguably the finest movie in his career yet. Arguably the most innovative director in the telugu industry in the recent times,Jagarlamudi RadhaKrishna,a.k.a. “Krissh”, teamed with Naresh and Sharwanand to give us a sensible story, Gamyam.It had no star power to it and no glossy glamourous actresses,no picturesque backgrounds, just plain storytelling.The story is the main star to it with great performances by Sharwanand,Naresh,Kamilinee Mukharjee. From then on, Sharwanand has done only good sensible cinema. In the may of 2010 came the “changing effect” to the industry as  a whole, Prasthanam. And we were introduced to a talented NRI director, Deva Katta. And  lo!! there was Sharwanand again!!. After that amazing masterpiece, it was time for another “out of the box” movie, Vedam!! Kissh was back with a bang!!! the “change” has started, and in what way!!! The success of these films commercially showed filmmakers that the audience is ready for the change and they do admire meaningful cinema. So, now,its time for the producers, directors and actors to break the shackles and let go of the monotony!!!

As the audience is ready to patronise nice and good flicks and as we have enterprising filmmakers like Bhaskar,Krissh and Deva among others, and a star like Allu Arjun,trying to break the stereotypes with movies like Aarya 2 , Varudu and Vedam,we are surely in for a secure and a brighter time to come. Out of the producers, young Allu Sirish stands out with his zeal and passion to do something more to the industry, carrying forward the legacy of his father, Allu Aravind  and his banner, Geetha arts. He looks promising at the moment. And with multistarrer  movies starting to come out, the future is certainly bright!!!

All i am saying is that the industry seems to have the much needed change and momentum going, and with people ready to expirement,with heaps of talent to explore, we certainly are ready to make a mark in the wider picture. We just got going and have a lot more to cover. So, tollywood, buckle up for the ride!!!!