Tollywood Men in khaki!

As Tollywood superstars get set to play tough cops in their new flicks, the million rupee question remains: will the genre find takers again? TOI reports
For decades, T-town superstars have sported the khaki (on screen) and churned out BO blockbusters. Predictably, most Tollywood actors prefer to essay the role of upright cop, which offers them ample scope to do some kick-butt scenes and mouth some one-liners with mass appeal.
However, in the last few years, except for Lakshyam, cop stories haven���������t really spun BO magic and films like Salute, Astram, Baanam, Homam, Satyameva Jayathe, Eenadu and Siddham sank without a trace, making dream merchants discard the time-tested theme, once considered a safe bet at the BO. Undeterred, action hunk Gopichand tried his hand in Golimar. ���������It���������s a dream role for me and I even met top cop Daya Nayak to get the act right,��������� he���������d said before the film hit the screens. All his efforts went in vain, as the tale of an encounter specialist couldn���������t set the BO on fire.
Before everyone could write it off, the roaring success of dubbed cop story Yamudu gave a fillip to this clich������d plot. Now trade circles are buzzing that Komaram Puli, set to release in theatres this month, might just create ripples at the BO. The onus is on superstar Pawan Kalyan to prove that the cop story is still a safe bet. ���������The film revolves round an upright cop who encounters many hurdles before accomplishing his mission. There���������s a romance angle and other commercial ingredients too,��������� says director SJ Suryah.
Other big league stars who donned khaki include Chiranjeevi (Raktha Sindhuram), Nagarjuna (Rakshana and Shivamani), Venkatesh (Gharshana), Balakrishna (Rowdy Inspector and Laxmi Narasimha), Mahesh Babu (Pokiri) and had their share of hits and flops in the genre. Seasoned star Rajasekar took the cop story Ankusam to a different level with a power-packed performance. Veteran filmmaker Kodi Ramakrishna���������s cult movie Ankusam (remade as Pratibandh in Hindi) says that ���������Most of these cop stories rely on a solid storyline. So the producer should share a passion to make a thought-provoking film. For heroes, being a reel cop will add to their larger-than-life image and the antagonist should be invincible to make the hero���������s task daunting. We need to incorporate real-life incidents to make cop films believable,��������� says the director. On many flops in this genre is ���������due to clich������d storylines,��������� he informs.
Mahesh Babu���������s next big-ticket untitled film with director Srinu Vytla is reportedly a cop story. ���������Mahesh is playing a cop in the film,��������� reveals a source in the production house. If superstars like Pawan and Mahesh can���������t convince and woo their fans as men in khaki, you can���������t expect more cop stories rolling out in T���������town in the near future.