Telugu Movie Industry- 2008
The best thing to happen to me in 2008, was becomming a full flegded author of PFC. And in the course making some wonderful friends out here. This would be my last post for 2008, and am hoping that in 2009, i would still contribute to PFC in whatever way i can. Telugu movie industry saw some significant events happening, Chiranjeevi getting into politics, small movies doing well, big blockbusters crashing at box office, and usual quota of scandals, backbiting and gossip. So here is a brief overview.
For over close to 25 years, he has been the darling of the Telugu audiences, distributors and movie producers. Even his flop movies were assured of a decent return. Chiru has been to Andhra, what Rajnikanth has been to Tamil Nadu, an actor with a wide ranging appeal. For years his movies have entertained the Telugu audiences, and he has starred in some of the biggest hits of all time. And his appeal is vast, his fans range from a humble auto driver to software whiz kids in Silicon Valley, from the silicon valleys of Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai to the sleepy villages and small towns of Andhra Pradesh, from post Grads to unlettered laborers, Chiru’s appeal is wide spread. And not just among the Telugu audiences, i had friends of mine, from outside Andhra, who knew not a single word of Telugu, but were die hard fans of Chiru. And in 2008, Chiru, took a step forward to translate that goodwill and support into political glory, by launching his new party, Prajarajyam, meaning Govt of the People, in August 2008. While it is still early to predict anything, the fact remains that Chiru has made an impact with his rallies and speeches. Also there are certain regions, where he has a tremendous influence, and he is sure to get some seats there and add to it, many leading political leaders have made a beeline for his party. Could Chiru do in 2009, what the great NTR did in 1983? Can Chiru pull off a Barack Obama in 2009? Will he rule the political world, the same way he did the movie world? Tough to say anything now, but one thing for sure, 2009, would be seeing Chiru making a considerable impact in the political world. It is not without reason that Business World named him as one of the people to watch out for in 2009.
2008 was even otherwise a good year for Chiru & Family. In 2007, the Telugu version of Lage Raho Munnabahi, Shankar Dada Zindabad, was a total disaster at the box office. And then we had all that controversy related to his daughter’s elopment, and the media circus that followed. But things seem to have be better this year. Brother Pawan Kalyan’s movie Jalsa, emerged as one of the year’s biggest hits, and the advance reports for Pawan’s latest starrer Komaram Puli, seemed to be good. And nephew Allu Arvind, further strengthened his position with Parugu, a love story set in a rural backdrop. The movie was a slow starter at the box office, but later picked up and did well. So all in all, a good year for the Allu-Konijeti families.
Comming to the other leading family of Telugu cinema, the Nandamuris, Balakrishna continued his flop show at the box office. His Okka Magadu, was Tollywood’s RGV Ki Aag of 2008, a supreme disaster. The movie a mishmash of Kamal’s Indian and Mel Gibson’s The Patriot, belongs to the “So Bad that it is so Good” category and a perfect candidate for Oz’s torture series, or maybe i need to start my own series for such movies. And the great NTR’s soul, would have been pained, to see his yesteryear’s classic Panduranga Mahatyam, mutilated and disgraced, into Balakrishna’s Pandu Rangadu. Director K.Raghavendra Rao still seems to be stuck in a 80’s & 90’s time warp, as he turns a classic into a sleaze fest for most of the first half, sadly the audiences did not seem to find it titilliating enough. The last major success Balakrishna had was Lakshmi Narasimha in 2004, the Telugu remake of the Vikram starrer Saamy. Since then, his career seems to have gone into a total free fall, with each movie proving to be worse than the previous one. And if the son fared badly, the grandson did no better, as NTR Jr’s Kantri, for all the hype associated with it, did not really set the box office on fire.
The only saving grace seemed nephew Kalyan Ram, whose movie Hare Raam, about a pair of twin brothers, one of whom is a pyschotic, did quite well at the box office, and Kalyan’s performance was appreciated too. Balakrishna and NTR Jr, need to do a serious rethink on their career, their over the top, super hero, yelling, screaming antics, are beginning to look increasingly jaded. This year also saw the entire Nandamuri family, openly canvass for N.Chandra babu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party, as a counterweight to Chiru’s Praja Raajyam. However a series of foot in the mouth statements by some of them, left Chandrababu Naidu, red faced in embarassment.
Nagarjuna started off the year badly with Krishnarjuna, a desi version of Bruce Almighty, where Nag played the role of God, proving to be another major disaster. King, directed by Seenu Vytla, released at the end of 2008, however seems to be doing well from initial reports, and looks set to become a hit. His nephew Sumanth, starred in Pourudu, a gangster flick, which did decent business, and his performance was appreciated also. His other nephew Sushanth, made his debut with Kalidasu, which again did average business.
Venkatesh had only a solo release this year, Chintakayala Ravi, a comedy about an Indian working as a bartender in New York, who fibs to everyone back home, including his Mom that he is a software engineer. Not a very great movie, and not as big a hit as expected too, it just turned out average. However he has 2 interesting projects in hand, Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum directed by Krish, of Gamyam fame, while he is also playing a major role in Kamal’s Marmayogi.
Small is beautiful, seemed to be the mantra this year, and the trend was kick started by Gamyam directed by Krish. A road movie starring Sarvanand as a spoilt rich youngster, who discovers life and himself, as he travels on a road trip to unite with his estranged fiancee, played by Kamalinee Mukherjee. The movie also had a great performance from Allari Naresh, as a small time thief, who becomes a friend to the hero, and who travels along with him. It was the sleeper hit of the year, starting off slowly, and then turning out to make a neat profit for every one. Right now the movie is being remade in Tamil, Kannada and Hindi also. The movie is not exactly a masterpiece, but quite a good watch, and hoping that success of more movies like this, could pull out Telugu movie industry from the mediocricity it is currently stuck in.
Ashta Chemma, a Telugu reworking of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, was another small movie, that went on to become a surprise hit. The only known face was Swati, also called as Colors Swati, after the TV show she hosted. Directed by Indraganti Mohan Krishna, whose earlier movie Grahanam, won him the National Award, the movie was a total light hearted entertainer and like Gamyam, the movie also became a hit, with good promotion, and word of mouth publicity. Another director, Adivi Sai Kiran, who was an assistant to Shekar Kammula, also made a good debut with Vinayukudu, about an unlikely love story between a fat, overweight hero from a small town and a modern, no nonsense girl. Krishnudu’s performance in the lead role, was the highlight, and the movie was a breezy affair, satirizing the yuppie lifestyle of the modern youth. The movie also went on to do extremely well, and made a neat profit for every one.
Shekar Kammula, in fact seems to have become some kind of patron saint for most of the small, medium movie makers in Andhra Pradesh. Avakai Biryani, produced by Shekar Kammula, and directed by Anish Kuruvilla, was not a commercial success, but not much of a loss either. The movie was a love story between a Hindu girl and a Muslim boy, set in rural Telangana. Not as great as expected, but much better than the standard Telugu movie fare. Shekar however needs to pay more attention to scripting and screenplay, most of the movies directed or produced by him, are ending up looking like xerox copies of each other. And all seem to be set in a particular ambience. Among other small movies to do well were Kotha Bangaru Lokam, Ullasamga Utshahamga, Nachavule, Yuvatha most of them teen flicks.
Allari Naresh seems set to take over the mantle of Rajendra Prasad, as the lead hero for small and medium movies. While his Gamyam, was a major hit, and his performance was appreciated all over, Blade Babji, a comedy based on Blue Streak, was again a success. Sidhu from Srikakulam co starring Manjari( who played the second lead in JTYJN), was also a success. His brother Aryan Rajesh, however seemed to have totally faded out. Gopichand who has created his own niche of an action hero, had a mixed year with Sowryam, a typical revenge drama doing well, but his other movie, Ontari, where he played a scizhophrenic character, was a flop. Rajeev Kanakala, who seemed to have made the transition from villian to hero, well, had another surprise success with Black & White, which had shades of Dil Se in it.
Chakravarthy, the hero of RGV’s Satya, directed Homam, a loose adaptation of The Departed, starring himself and Jagapathi Babu. The movie while not a patch on the original, however did decent business again. Jagapathi Babu’s other movie Raksha, which was the Telugu version of Phoonk, also did well at the box office. Kathanayakudu, where he co starred with Rajni, however was a dud. The Telugu version of Kuselan, the movie was as much as a disaster as it’s Tamil version. His Swagatham, a rehash of Kal Ho Na Ho, was also a flop. Another remake Bhale Dongalu( Bunty aur Babli), starring Tarun and Illeana, also flopped, and continued Tarun’s flop show at the box office. Once one of the most promising actors, Tarun’s career seems to have gone into free fall, due to some lousy choices. As did another young hero, Nithin, whose all 3 movies, were total disasters, and the days of Jayam & Sye, seem to be long gone.
Ram, who made an impressive debut in Devadasu, and also put in a good performance in Jagadam, continued his success run with Ready, a total masala time pass entertainer, which was a huge hit. With Dhee, Dubai Seenu, Ready and now King, Srinu Vytla seems to have firmly established himself as a director of fluffy, time pass masala flicks which offer 100% entertainment. Ravi Teja started off impressively with Krishna, winning the Sankranthi race, but Baladoor, where he went for a softer image, was a flop. Neninthe, which is a satirical look at the movie industry, and the Telugu movie websites, however seems to be picking up slowly.
Among the heroines, Anushka, established herself this year with hits like Sowryam, Chintakayala Ravi, while Trisha with Krishna at the start of the year, and King at year end, kept her reputation as Andhra’ s sweetheart intact. Mamta Mohandas firmly established herself as Tollywood’s sex symbol, with her hot, smouldering looks, and she proved that she could pull off the femme fatale act with elan in King.
At the end, Tollywood, still continues to flounder in mediocricity . Barring a handful of movies, most of the other movies had nothing really memorable to offer. Forget about a Black Friday or Omkara, right now Tollywood seems unable to come up with a Khosla Ka Ghosla , and sad considering that Telugu movie industry was once famous for its family oriented comedies. Dominated by a handful of families, stars who have become prisoners of their own images, an oppresive system that has kept out talent and a chalta hai attitude, Telugu movie industry is in neck deep shit right now. One hopes that the success of smaller movies like Gamyam, Ashta Chemma, would give a much needed impetus to Tollywood to start cleaning up its act.
And till then wishing every one a Happy New Year, and see you all in 2009.
Tags: allari naresh, Balakrishna, chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, ntr, Shekar Kammula, Telugu Movies, Venkatesh
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
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Bowing to u ohh writing machismo!
For me the year belonged to discovering a few old gems all over again but Ashta Chemma & avakai made it worthwhile… Missed the big ones but now I know what. ;-)
I have seen “Angrez” movie this year,..
I like that film a lot, “Ma ki Kirkiri !!!”
-
Ratnakar,Love to read more Articles in 2009!!!
“ohh writing machismo”
Ravi, Yeh kaun saa term hai bhai, too much for my Idle Burra. Also oldies as in old Telugu classics. I do love those old B& W stuff of NTR, ANR. Maybe one day a post soon on them.
Shekhar, yeah lets see what can come out in 2009.
Happy New year guys.
Ratnakar – How did the dubbed version of Dasavatharam, Saroja, Vaaranam Aayiram do in Telugu?
Secondly, is there any film in Telugu(2008) which is worth buying (DVD), considering I do not understand Telugu?
Anand, Dasavatharam did well in AP. Kamal has a strong fan following among Telugu audiences, and most of his movies do well here. Saroja did not make much of an impact, and while the Telugu version of VA, Surya S/O Krishnan, was dismissed as a flop, it has proved to be a steady earner.
Well u can check out Gamyam, Ashta Chemma, Avakai Biryani, not really great movies, but worth a decent watch. Sadly the overall standard in Telugu cinema, nowadays is so low, that audiences are lapping up even a decent movie.
Well Ratnakar its a lovely take on the Telugu movies of 2008.A few things that I want to point out-
1.Raksha ( Phoonk’s remake) wasnt a success.
2.The Tarun-Ileana remake of B&B is Bhale Dongalu & not Iddaru Dongalu
3.Marmayogi of Kamal is currently on the backbuurner but Venky is also supposed to be part of Kamal’s next venture- Thalaivan Irukkiran
But otherwise you’ve gone into great detail as usual.Yes I am worried about the Telugu film industry myself as we discussed the other day.But
here’s hoping that the small movies like Ashta Chemma,Gamyam etc bring in more chnage in the industry.
Sethu, Raksha did reasonably well , it was an average grosser at least in Hyd & Vizag, if not in other places. Thanks for correction.
Anand, ur opening a pandora’s box with that question.
If you are older and looking for meaningful cinema, I will leave it to Ratnakar and Sethu to do the honors but here is what I would suggest – but note, I don’t know if subtitle DVD’s are available. Also, my knowledge of telugu cinema is from 96 so you will see light hearted but enjoyable flicks:
1. Kshanakshanam – Ramu, his best work!
2. Ninne Pelladuta
3. Athadu
4. Sindooram
5. Gayam
6. Anthaphuram
7. Aithe
8. Anukokunda Oka Roju
9. Happy Days
10. Godavari
11. Anand ;-)
Old Ones:
Pick up anything by Bapu or K.Vishwanath – U won’t be disappointed.
I will add more in a bit!
Ravi, thats a good reccomendation u have made. My favorites though wud be the old classics of NTR and ANR. Especially love those folklore movies of NTR.
Ohh dyamm – u said 2008 anand, my bad!
Actually this is a nice discussion. I will be in India soon and I was planning to buy telugu dvd’s anyways. Kothi still the destination I guess?
I actually want to buy a few old one, ANR’s Devdas for sure. Muttyala Muggu is another one that I need for collections sake. Raogoapala rao – awesome!
Ravi no less a person than Dilip Kumar himself said that he cud come nowhere close to ANR in Devdas. It is the best of all the versions, do watch it, you really get to understand what dark and depressing means.
Mutyala Muggu was great just for the sake of Rao Gopal Rao. Actually this was a movie where the audiences did not really care about the hero and heroine, they went again and again just for villian.
His dialogues
“Aakasam erra ga vundi, ekkado murder ayinatu vundi”
“Alaa poddhasthamanam panichesthe, manishi ki goddu ki theda vundadu, manishannaka kasthantha kala poshana vundali”.
Man RGR is one of my favorite actors, after S.V.Ranga Rao, no one could do the cold blooded villian act, like him.
I sorely miss these Telugu villians RGR, SVR, Nagabhushanam, each one of them so unique. All we have now are likes of Mukesh Rishi and Pradeep Rawat, with their grunts and hamming.
Anand
Yes as Ratnakar has mentioned Dasavatharam has done well,Saroja didnt do well & Surya S/O Krishnan is doing reasonably well ( still running in some centres).Regarding DVD’s of 2008 movies again I would go by the names suggested by Ratnakar, but only Gamyam’s DVD is out so far.
Ratnakar
Thats a valid point.Where are all the telugu villains?I mean after Rami Reddy ( started well
with Ankusam etc) who’s now become a caricature in b-grade hindi & telugu movies there’s hardlay anyone come up.Some of the others like Jeevi or
Kota Sreenivasa Rao are decent but they are not villains per se, they also do villain roles.Otherwise its mostly the bollywood imports as mentioned by you- Sayaji Shinde, Mukesh Rishi,Pradeep Rawat,Ashish Vidyarthi & the likes.
Sir, I actually sat through the film and I was blown away by ANR. He spent a week or something like that in slums without food for that role. The greatest Devdas, yes.
Muthyala Muggu – you should do a post on that only for the Villain’s dialogues. But it is a very socially relevant film too…
My knowledge of Telugu Cinema is limited. Whenever I went to Tirupati for Darshan, I watched a Telugu film while returning back :-) (The kind of looks I would get from my late mom!!)
Some of them:
Surya IPS
Kshana Kshanam
Anaganaga Oka Roju (RGV)
Shanti Kranti (An interesting tibit – we went to Tirupati sometime in Aug 1991 and saw this film – absolutely no crowds in the theatres – but Rajni’s Tamil version was supposed to be released only on 1st Sept – so we went and watched it – awful film I must say)
Indrudu Chandrudu
Subha Sankalpam
Stalin
Govinda Govinda
Anand, fairly good movies u have watched there.
BTW watch Vijay’s movies, 80% of them are Telugu remakes.
Shanti Kranti, was a big disaster both in Telugu and Kannada, dont know how it fared in Tamil.
Actually i think Satyam Complex, does screen Telugu movies right. I remember watching Devi Putrudu and the Telugu version of Khushi there.
Shanti Kranti was a big disaster in tamil also.It was called Nattuku Oru Nallavan in tamil.
Telugu movie screenings used to be almost non existent in Chennai.Thanks to Sathyam Cinemas the trend was started around 1999/2000.It started with them showing telugu movies on the weekends in the morning ( similar to Prasads-Hyd doing it for Tamil & Malayalam) and then slowly the shows increased & it became a regular feature.
Tholli Prema was the first successful release in Sathyam Cinemas & Khushi in telugu celebrated 100 days there.Seeing this lots of other theatres like Jayapradha,Casino & Pilot got into the fray.Currently Pilot is out of the fray – screening more of english movies dubbed in tamil & Jayapradha is closed due to some tax issues.
So Casino is the number one theatre for telugu today.Almost all the regular ( big & small ) telugu movies get released-mostly simultaneously along with A.P.Sathyam & Inox also patronises them occasionally.Last year I did watch Jalsa & Bujjigadu in Sathyam Cinemas.Mayajaal & Woodlands complex also plays telugu movies.
Ratnakar, is ‘Gamyam’ the movie which is called
‘Kadhal na summa va’ with ravi krishna, Kamalinee produced by Raj tv ??
totally out of topic :
I just moved from chennai to bangalore last month, can anyone suggest some good place to buy old english dvds and foreign movie dvds..am staying in BTM..is there some place near by..
Balaji u mean Kadhal Na Summa Illai, but Ravikrishna in it?????
That guy just gets on my nerves with his horrible acting. One of the worst actors for sure IMO.
Vijay’s movies in tamil are heavily inlfuenced by telugu movies.Some of them are either straight remakes like Gilli ( Okkadu) or Pokiri or butchered from telugu like Kuruvi ( 2nd half entirely from Chatrapati).
KPV Balaji
Yes Gamyam is Kadhan Na Summa Va in tamil.
Ravi Krishna is doing Allari Naresh’s role.Kamalinee & Sharwanand repeat their roles.
Regarding DVD’s – check out National Market – thats the best place I know in Banagalore.But no guarantee of whether the DVD is original or not.
Also check out 70 MM,Bigflix & Cinema Paradiso in particular if you want to rent any.
@ ratnakar
Yes ravikrishan is unbearable, no second thought about that.
@sethumadhavan
Thank yoou. Will check out National Market. Am a member of big flix, but they have a poor collection of world movies and Old classics. Gonna try 70 mm which has a database only slighly better than big flix. cinema paradiso looks too expensive to me
I would like to add something here:
Stop blaming industry as a whole; it’s the public to be blamed for lunacy….
Hoever telugu film industry is an ugraded version of kannada.
All time Worst movie i have ever watched is a telugu flick and that is “Shankar dada zindabad” and im sure many more down the line to beat dis shit
Balaji
Yes Cinema Paradiso is certainly expensive.and yes as of now 70 MM is better than Big flix when it comes to World Cinema & old classics.
If you are in the Indira Nagar side- there are some good vendors peddling the movies you want.You can check it out especially on CMH Road.But remember 2 things- most likely the stuff would be pirated & secondly you need to spend time with them as they would focus more on popular cinema & hence you have to hunt into the pile of DVD’s they have.
But National Market is a different scene alltogether.Tell them what you what & most likely you’ll get it.
Ravikrishna was last seen in a tamil/telugu bilingual- Netru ,Indru Nalai, in tamil and Ninna Nedu Repu in telugu.he co-starred with Rekha Rao & Tamanna.The movie was supposed to be ok but has already been forgotten by the junta.
I think this Netru, Indru, Nalai was quite famous for its smooching and supposedly hot scenes.
Ratnakar- maan gaye guru.Yes you are right- Rekha & Ravi were supposed to have a liplock & also there are other supposedly hot scenes.Havent seen the movie through.
Ravi, Ratnakar and others here are some more that come to mind –
Anveshana – for Shubalekha Sudhakar,Satyanarayana and Y.Vijaya….:)
Sri Kanaka Mahalakshmi Rec. Dance Troupe – simply for those dances of the troupe and Kota Srinivasa Rao
Pelli Pustakam – Divya Vani was super
Seetha Ramayyagari Manavaralu – for Godavari and Keeravani
Madhuranagarilo – slapstick comedy with unknowns but fun to watch
Ankuram – depicts a tribal’s problems with the authorities in the 90’s AP with Revathy and Ompuri as leads
Nireekshana – Minimalistic Balu Mahendra with a terrific score by Ilayaraja
there was this movie called Mriga Thrishna with Revathy in which the story was very loopy….was aired on “Pranthiya Bhasha Chalana Chitralu” ages ago…did not understand it though
There are some by Balachander with Sarita as lead which were quite good…don’t remember the names
Chalo then…
thanks.. will check them out…
@ 29-Lightsonsun
Anveshana is of course a cult classic, one of the best thrillers i have seen to date. IR’s BGM is mind blowing.
Loved most of Vamsi’s movies, but after Detective Narada he went downhill.
Madhuranagarilo came last year in Hindi as Dhamaal, and was a remake of Priyan’s Mallu movie Hariharnagar.
Nireekshana was fantastic, loved that movie.
@ 24-srikanth
I guess audience and industry has become like a Chicken-Egg situation.
The producers say we make the movies the audiences like, and audiences say we dont have any other choice.
But the Telugu audience does need to mature. The worst thing to happen is the fan club syndrome, that is spreading like a disease. Audiences dont want to see their favorite star step out of his comfort zone. And this is leading to stagnation.
Jandhyala flicks are also quite good. Personally speaking, whenever I’m in need of a good laugh, Jayamu Nischayammau Raa, Rendu Rellu Aaru, Vivaha Bhojanam, Chantabbai do the trick for me :-)
@ Prasanna-31
Love most of Jandhyala’s movies, my favorite being Srivariki Premalekha. Most of his comedies are pretty much Woodehousian in nature, subtle and understated.
Ratnakar Sadasyula, Its sad for you to compare Chiru to NTR. As per the way you have dealt this there is quite a clear indication that you are representing chiranjeevis new party.
You probably have no courage to disuss NTR’s Yamadonga. Shame on your hopeless tactics
@ 35
NTR’s Yamadonga was released in 2007, and this post is about Telugu cinema in 2008.
As for the rest of ur comment, its not even worth replying to.
@ 35
Well well well yaar this is PFC- not a political site/forum.And all of us including Ratnakar are only trying to be rational here.
Regarding the fan club thing- Ratnakar you are right.The situation is acute in A.P & also to a large extent seen in T.N also.This is certainly proving to be a speedbreaker in the whole process.
Well Ratnakarbhai,Have been following both your quiz as well as movie blog from quite some time
,have infact read through the whole blogs atleast 3-4 times,Was really excited seeing you on PFC and am glad that you became permanent here 
Ratnakar….nice list that you got there… and a very good detailed report… My top picks from 2008 would be…
-Gamyam
-Avakai Biryani
I havent seen many of them but these two stand out….I’m eagerly waiting for Ashta Chamma and Surya S/O Krishnan DVD to be out…
If there is list of good movies that i would suggest any one regarding telugu films here is mine…
1)Missama (One of the best scripts ever and great great acting by 3 legends).
2)All of K.Vishwanath’s films.
3)Chiru + Kondanda rami reddy +IR combo.
4)Ninne Pelladutha
5)Shiva
6)Kshakshanam
7)Jandhyala and Rajendra Prasad combo
8)Chantabbayi
@ varun
Man, dont get me started on Missamma, that is a classic to the core. In fact most of Vijaya Productions movies- Mayabazaar, Jagadeka Veeruni Katha, Appu Chesi Pappu Koodu, Gundamma Katha are movies which i can watch again and again, without getting bored.
Chiru+AKR also gave some really good movies, apart from Challenge, Abhilasha you had Khaidi, Pasivadi Praanam, Vijeta too.
Love most of Rajendra Prasad’s flicks, in fact i really liked Aa Naluguru, very interesting theme.
Jandhyala has been another favorite of mine, its sad he passed away so early.
“Forget about a Black Friday or Omkara”……Please watch SINDHOORAM. It was made way before Black Friday was made and hell yeah Sindhooram is as powerful movie as Black Friday is.
“At the end, Tollywood, still continues to flounder in mediocricity .
Barring a handful of movies, most of the other movies had nothing really memorable to offer.”
How many good Hindi and Tamil Movies released this year ? Please just dont comment because you want to comment.
Someone here commented that they are worried about Telugu Film Industry. I am more worried about Hindi Film Industry. There is not even a single original movie that is being made. More than half of the so called “small – medium” budget movies are remakes of French/Spanish/Italian movies. There are no good healthy comedies being made in Hindi. Iam glad that they are good comedies in Telugu. Thanks to Trivikram.
Every industry is more or less the same. They all work in similar patterns including Hollywood. Sitting in room and passing comments is one of the most easiest things.
Infact am very sure any one who wants to make a movie with BIG STAR in ANY Industry needs to make a story that suits the image of the STAR. Other wise producers will come on the streets.
Siva, i watched Sindhooram, and PLEASE LET ME STATE, I WAS GENERALLY REFERRING TO THE STATE OF TELUGU FILM INDUSTRY IN THIS DECADE, NOT OF THE 90′S.
“How many good Hindi and Tamil Movies released this year ?”
A Wednesday, Jodha Akbar, Rock On, Subramaniapuram, Poo, Vaaranam Ayiram, Tahan, Mumbai Meri Jaan, Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, Saroja, Anjathey. Quite a handful.
Its another matter that mainstream movies in both Hindi and Tamil sucked.
“Infact am very sure any one who wants to make a movie with BIG STAR in ANY Industry needs to make a story that suits the image of the STAR”
Vikram in Pithamagan, SRK in Swades & Chak De India, Aamir Khan in TZP, Saif in Omkara- All roles that did not exactly suit their image.
The title of the topic is TELUGU MOVIE INDUSTRY – 2008 and you mentioned about Omkara and Black Friday and hence i referred to Sindhooram.
Saif Ali Khan never had a “per se image” before Omkara.
Wat ever man !
When compared to other language films,one really bad aspect of Telugu cinema is the over the top,double meaning,vulgar comedy even in family films in the name of comedy.Though Tamil cinema is not far behind in this aspect,Telugu films are no.1 in this field.
Ratnakar: Thanks for the write up…This is really an informative article. How did Prabhas, Uday Kiran & Chiru’s son fare Btw?
Who are the top 10 stars of Telugu?
Balaji:Try Sp Road for hollywood dvds
Shetty-44
Prabhas had a solo release in Bujjigadu, guess it fared well.
Chiru’s son had no release, this year. As for Uday Kiran, his career right now is in total freefall. Its going southwards.
Top 10 stars of Telugu. Hmm tough to say, coz last year most of the big star movies flopped or did just average business. But if u take stars who have been delivering consistently over past 4-5 yrs, it wud be Ravi Teja, Pawan Kalyan, Allu Arvind, Venkatesh, Nagarjuna, NTR Jr, Allari Naresh, Mahesh Babu, Sumanth , Gopichand and Ram.
Chiru right now is in politics, and even otherwise, his last couple of movies have not done great at Box office, his last movie Shankar Dada Zindabad was a total disaster. And same with Balakrishna, who has not had a success since 2004.
Ratnakar-Thanks
How about a write up on Tamil movie industry 2008 ;)
Shetty, guess there have been some posts on Tamil movie industry in 2008.
BTW wud love to see something on Kannada flicks in 2008.
Ratnakar-
I guess you are referring to Allu Arjun.Allu Arvind is Allu Arjun’s dad – a producer.
Yes Bujjigadu was an average movie- had a good opening, more than decent music & a good star cast- Prabhas,Mohan Babu & Trisha.
Uday kiran,Nitin & Tarun- all are seriously in need of a hit urgently.Interestingly there’s a movie called Arundhati thats due to release shortly which has Anushka in a dual role & Sonu Sood as the villain.The budget is supposed to be around 13 crores- so I’m really curious to know the fate of the movie.
Shetty-
I’ve written a post on tamil & malayalam cinema of 2008.
http://passionforcinema.com/tamil-and-malayalam-cinema-in-2008-an-overview/ .
Ratnakar-will try to write something on the Kannada movies in case nobody else writes something.
Sethu-Thanks. Looking forward to your write up on kannada movies
Ratnakar: Finished reading all your posts.Loved that posts on 90s movies & Surya..keep writing bro
Thanks for the summary, Ratnakar garu. Do you know if the dvd of Grahanam is available anywhere? I have been searching for it for a few years.
Not sure if Grahanam is available anymore…
But I would like to watch it again… watched it at its premiere… me and my friend were he only teens in the theatre then and after the film, everyone was clapping and I was like huh??? This film… good!
Did not know Chalam well then… maybe I will enjoy it more now
Thanks, Ravptor. I thought Grahanam never had a theatrical release? How did it have a “premier” then? I am glad that, even as a teenager, you were sufficiently interested to check out a “different” film. I read the short story on which it was based when I was a teenager, and thought it was fabulous. Now, a few decades later, I find faults with its storytelling structure, but I still think the main story is great. I am curious to see how well its subtlety has been translated onto the screen.
sm… it did have a release. I know for sure. Saw it at prasad’s with the whole gang… Bharini was there and so was the whole unit…
I watched it cos my dad went on and on about Chalam on the day of the release but he could not make it so I took the invitations…
Nope dude… its not the story telling that the movie is great for, its the social message… its the attitude of the characters in the story that stand out…
I personally am not a big fan of such cinema, I find it too complicated, just like vanaja by Rajnesh.
Ravptor — I am a dudette, not dude, but no matter.
If it did release, then it increases my hopes of finding a dvd.
But please don’t compare Vanaja with Chalam. Vanaja wasn’t “complicated”, it was just unclear, if not messed up. Actually I think the story that Grahanam was based on was “dosha gunam” wasn’t it? that is actually a very simple story. But it created a stir because people don’t want to face simple truths, and instead invent complicated excuses for pretending not to see it. Anyway, I don’t want to go too far off topic here, but thanks for telling me that Grahanam did release.
The probability of Chalam commenting on this was higer than a dudette… pardon my passionate “female” chauvinism…
Sacrilege, yes i did commit by comparing, may chalam’s soul RIP. But did vanaja create a hype on the cocktail and sari circuit here…