Tollywood wakes up to parallel cinema

A standard formula of four songs, three fights, a few punch dialogues clubbed with slapstick comedy was the Tollywood movie till the beginning of this year. But all that seems to be changing with several filmmakers willing to experiment with “message oriented” cinema.
The last few months saw Andhari Bandhuvaya, Prasthanam and Vedam being touted as torchbearers of a new renaissance in Telugu cinema. A few filmmakers attribute it to an audience that is increasingly exposed to international cinema, while critics cite younger and learned directors entering the fray as the reason for this much-awaited change.

“In the last few years, Telugu movies didn’t even qualify for national awards. But this year there are three movies that can be considered for the same. Though commercial movies like Simha continue to dominate the box office, there are an increasing number of takers for sensible movies too,” says P. Sarath Kumar, member of censor board and film critic.

Most of these movies have an underlying message which when treated sensibly, make them a hit with the multiplex audiences. It was earlier unthinkable in Tollywood to project a heroine like Anushka playing the role of a prostitute.
“I did Gamyam last year which won several awards. But it wasn’t a commercial hit. Now I made Vedam with Allu Arjun, Manoj Bajpai and Manchu Manoj. The star cast ensured that the movie was a hit though it doesn’t have forceful songs, fights and comedy. There are an increasing number of youngsters who are willing to watch movies if there is a creative blend of content without it being too preachy,” says Krish Radhakrishna, director of Vedam.

A strong NRI audience that is tired of watching stereotyped Telugu movies have also emerged as a new market. “While the Tamil and Hindi film industries experiment with stories and are willing to change, our movies have been predictable. Such films are facing commercial setbacks now, so the industry has begun to take risks to reach out to the multiplex audience. A few big heroes need to start acting in movies that balance content and commercial aspects to give better cinema to a changing audience,” says director Sreedhar Reddy.

“Movies like these are scripts from real life stories and the audience can relate to them unlike commercial movies that project actors as larger-than-life personalities. There is immense scope in such movies and are well appreciated,” says actor Sundeep Kishan who was critically acclaimed for his role in Prasthanam