Telanganites Rapid Rise In Tollywood

During the Telangana movement in United Andhra Pradesh, many protesters accused people from Andhra snatching their opportunities. Almost all the industries faced such allegations and Tollywood was no different.

Whether those allegations were false or real, after the formation of a separate state of Telangana, Telanganites are making rapid rise in Tollywood. They started showcasing their talent in almost all the 24 crafts of filmmaking. Even many films with Telangana accent started coming and stealing the hearts of movie lovers.

Tharun Bhascker's Pelli Choopulu set the trend, as it went on to win the National award. The film also gave immense recognition to Vijay Devarakonda and Priyadarshi. Sekhar Kammula's Fidaa floored all with Sai Pallavi stealing hearts with her Telangana accent.

Suresh Babu, analyzing the trend said, “When the film industry was in Madras, people from Telangana, Andhra and Rayalaseema used to come there. But when the industry started shifting to Hyderabad, many local people were hired. We are seeing the results now. While there were a few popular people at that time, this new generation has produced many more successes. Now, one can hardly see a Tamil director. It’s predominantly local talent hailing from Telangana. Of course, having a separate Telangana state marginally helps local people to enter the industry.”

Tammareddy Bharadwaj concurs with him saying, “The separate Telangana state definitely acts as an advantage for local talent. Also, with two to three films having a Telangana backdrop becoming huge successes, many filmmakers started making films on similar lines.”

He pointed out that of late many top stars like Mahesh Babu, Allu Arjun and Nagarjuna started talking in Telangana accent. Suresh Babu revealed, “It is quite natural that when an artiste belongs to a particular place, he speaks their language. Popular yesteryear actor Ramana Reddy used to speak the Nellore slang because he was from there. Likewise, today, many of the artistes speak their local language in films. The slang and accent is no longer forced.”

Madhura Sreedhar Reddy sharing his views said, “After Pelli Choopulu became a huge success, many writers started writing in their own dialect. Also, it gave filmmakers courage to make films with a local backdrop. Though having a separate Telangana state helps to bring in more local talent, people from other parts are also enjoying the dialect of the state.”

Tollywood is all set to witness many more films with Telangana backdrop such as Falaknuma Das, Dorasani and Mallesam. N Shankar however differs saying, “It’s not a sudden rise as many of them have worked in the industry earlier. I don’t think the separate Telangana state has helped local talent to rise.”

Telanganites who made rapid progress include Vijay Deverakonda, Sandeep Vanga, Tharun Bhascker, Sankalp Reddy, Vishwak Sen, Priyadarshi, Rahul Ramakrishna, KVR Mahendra, Abhinav Gomatam, Vennela Kishore, Vivek Sagar, Venu Udugula, Vikram Sirikonda, Kalakeya Prabhakar, Surender Reddy, Vamshi Paidipally, Harish Shankar, N Shankar, Sampath Nandi, Madhura Sreedhar Reddy etc.