Tollywood the beginners' paradise

The going has been good for newcomers in Tollywood this season with a host of them making a mark for themselves.
This year's hit films like 'Ala Modalaindi' 'Nuvvila', 'Pilla Zamindar' and 'Prema Kavali' have all been small budget films made by newcomers starring not so well-known faces. Even the other big hit in the recent past, 'Kandireega', was directed by a debutant director, Santosh Sreenivas.Looks like 'new' is 'in' these days in T-town.
Director Nandini Reddy, who shot into the limelight with her debut flick 'Ala Modalaindi', feels it is a positive trend. 'Content has emerged as king once again. Now producers are a lot more open to working with newcomers. Also with most popular stars being very busy, it is very difficult to get them on board. So newcomers are the next best option,' explains Nandini adding, 'For directors like me, it allows the freedom to write fresh stories as they do not come with the baggage of expectations. When a couple of such movies click, it has a positive effect on the industry.'
Take the case of US-returned director Madhura Sreedhar, who directed the recently released 'It's My Love Story'. He says that it is much easier to break into Tollywood now than it was a few years ago. 'I am an IIT pass out with no contacts in the film industry, yet I have been able to land a three-film deal,' he says, adding, 'The explosion of social media has made Tollywood more accessible to an outsider and the producers and stars are a lot more accessible. Besides, with 25 news channels hungry for content, it provides a great platform for newcomers to gain visibility and market themselves.' Actor Aravind Krishna, who comes from a corporate background echoes similar sentiments. 'The media has played a big role in connecting us with the audiences. Take my case, though just one-film old, the audiences know everything about me, thanks to the pre-release publicity,' he says.
It isn't just directors and actors who are coming through the ranks. The same holds true for producers as well, many of whom are 'foreign returned'. The producers of the blockbuster 'Dookudu', Anil Sunkara, Ram Achanta and Gopi Achanta are all outsiders and so is Neelima Thirumala Setty, one of the producers of 'Panjaa'. Film scholar Katti Mahesh Kumar puts the trend in perspective saying, 'Cinema and politics are the two sure shot ways to become famous. While it is much more difficult to gain a foothold in politics, if you have the money, cinema offers a much easier route to becoming famous.'
Producer Suresh Babu has his own take on it. 'It is a cyclical phenomenon. Newcomers are coming in all the time, yet only very few of them manage to stay on year after year. We are always on the lookout for fresh talent across the board from directors, script writers, character artistes etc. We know there are a lot of capable people out there and we are looking for them,' he says adding, 'There is a severe crunch of star heroines in Tollywood today. We have a good number of established star heroes in the industry but there aren't enough capable actresses to go with them.'
Director Venu Sriram who debuted with the Siddharth-Shruti Haasan starrer 'Oh My Friend', feels that breaking in and becoming successful are two different things. 'Breaking in is perhaps the easier part. But establishing yourself is a whole different ball game.'