HYDERABAD: The parallel has become mainstream.
Telangana cinema
has come of age and the local dialect is no more used to just evoke a few chuckles. It isn't reserved for the comedian or the villain showing crude behaviour.
Telangana cinema has got into the 70 mm league and producers are laughing all the way to the bank. Actors are basking in the limelight. And all this in just about a year.
If in the past Telangana cinema -films in which the Telangana dialect of Telugu was spoken -was regarded as `parallel' cinema, films are now being made with main characters churning out dialogues in the dialect. What's more, these films are commercial successes too, in Telangana as well as Andhra Pradesh.
Like it or loathe it, `Arjun Reddy' has made the film fraternity sit up and take notice of how a completely Telangana film set the cash registers ringing. Supposedly made on a shoe-string budget by debutant director Sandeep Reddy Vanga and producer Pranay Vanga, the film raked up a storm even before its release.The post-release discussions too has put the film in limelight. But this was not the first taste of success for its lead actor Vijay Devarkonda.
What heralded Telangana cinema on the big stage was another of his film, `Pelli Cho opulu', directed by
Tharun Bhascker Dhaassyam. The box-office hit also won the national award for the best regional film in Telugu. Well known filmmaker Shekhar Kammula also made his lead actress, Sai Pallavi, speak the Telangana dialect in `Fidaa', another hit this year. The success of these films also helped them garner big distributors. For example D
Suresh Babu of Suresh Productions chose to distribute
Pelli Choopulu
. Now with three commercial hits in the span of a year, it seems like the Telangana cinema is here to stay and flourish.
Sushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyde...
Read MoreSushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyderabad. He began his journalism career at the age of 20 in 1988. He is a gold medalist in journalism from the Department of Communication and Journalism, Arts College, Osmania University, Hyderabad from where he did his post-graduation from. He has been with The Times of India’s Hyderabad edition since its launch in 2000. He has also done an introductory course in film studies from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and also from the Central University of Kerala equipping himself with the knowledge of filmmaking for film criticism. He has authored four books. In his career spanning 34 years, he has worked for five newspapers and has also done television reporting. He was also a web journalist during internet’s infancy in the mid 1990s in India. He covers defence, politics, diaspora, innovation, administration, the film industry, Hyderabad city and Telangana state, and human interest stories. He is also a podcaster, blogger, does video reporting and makes documentaries.
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