The first half of 2022 has been quite exciting for the Telugu film industry. It played a big role in filling the cinemas — and not only in the Telugu countries. Films by Telugu filmmakers became the country’s toast and contributed immensely to the box office recovery in India after the debilitating pandemic.
Pushpa: The Rise by Tollywood superstar Allu Arjun caused surprise across the country, especially in the Hindi belt. The film opened over the Christmas holidays of 2021 and continued on its successful run well into the first half of January without any major challenges at the box office.
Pushpa became a huge hit and became a pop culture phenomenon. Pushpa, his whimsical mannerisms and overly heroic punch lines captured people’s imaginations from house parties to announcements of public interest to wedding ceremonies and election campaigns. Pushpa continued to dominate the news cycle beyond its successful theatrical release.
While Pushpa was a huge hit in the Hindi belt, the film struggled to break even in its native Andhra Pradesh. Although it drew full houses from day one, the state government’s strict policy of regulating movie ticket prices at the time cut into the film’s profits. After weeks of tough negotiations with the Jagan Mohan Reddy government led by Tollywood superstar Chiranjeevi, a breakthrough was achieved. The government relented and allowed the basic ticket prices in the cinema halls to be increased so that the future films could make a profit. And one of the biggest beneficiaries was director SS Rajamouli’s RRR. Ram Charan-Jr.‘s NTR Movie was awarded not only in India but also internationally after it appeared on Netflix.
Not only at the box office, the Telugu film industry also delivered a handful of good films that rewarded audiences who braved the pandemic to sit and cheer in a packed cinema hall. However, the ratio of good films to bad films was annoyingly low.
The good ones:
RRR
Director SS Rajamouli’s reimagining of a liberty revolt against the British Raj was a much-needed break for audiences after two years of suffering from a pandemic and all it brought. The story takes place in the 1920s when the British were at the height of their power in India. The film takes on an almost magical quality with oversized wild animals and two men who are the epitome of old-school machismo pulling off some incredible stunts beyond the natural and limited powers of the average human. It’s a fantasy land where two Indians outdo the imperial zealots in every way. From electrifying dance-offs to gun-shooting, chivalrous demeanor, cunning and dangerousness, these two highly skilled assassins will bring the Empire to its knees. Ram Charan and Jr. NTR bring to life a pair of perfect mythical heroes dreamed up by Rajamouli.
Major
Major was a passion project for Adivi Sesh, who wrote the film’s screenplay and starred in it. And he’s getting a little greedy with the project, as he crams into the film everything that makes it look good on screen and somehow undermines the other aspects of the storytelling that would do full justice to the life and sacrifice of the 26/11 hero Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan. The emotional component of the film is compelling, although familiar. And much credit should be given to Revathy and Prakash Raj. They bring to life the thought process of parents who don’t want to send their son off to fight at the border. The film has its flaws, but it also has its moments.
Ante Sundaraniki
The structure of the narrative is perfectly matched to the personality of its protagonist, Sundar, who is played by an in-form Nani. The film tells the romantic story of a couple belonging to different religious backgrounds. Sundar and Leela (Nazriya Nazim) belong to conservative families who bully those who do not belong to their own community. But love is blind to religion and all other invented social distinctions. The pair are then forced to weave a web of endless lies to circumvent their families’ pride and prejudice, resulting in an irrelevant flow of humor with a comfortable fluency.
Virata Parvam
This film lands by a razor-thin margin in the best films list. Without an endearing and movingly tender performance by Sai Pallavi, this film could not have been saved. She single-handedly makes us care about this movie and everything else that happens in it. Said to be inspired by true events, the film tells the love story of a courageous woman who embarks on a life-changing journey into the most unsafe jungles in search of a Naxal leader who has captured her heart with his revolutionary poetry.
The bad ones:
Sarkaru Vaari Paata
Mahesh Babu plays an NRI character who returns to his home country to solve its problems. In this issue, he asks people to wake up and smell the systemic corruption that drives the rich and powerful to rip off the hardworking and decent citizens. The film’s subject matter is relevant and even urgent, but the filmmakers miss the opportunity by turning this film into an exercise in hero worship.
Acharya
This is for sure one of the most boring movies of Telugu film industry. Every frame and scene in the film suffers from director Koratala Siva’s failure to come up with anything original.
Bangarraju
Bangarraju is the follow-up film to Soggade Chinni Nayana. This also appears to be Nagarjuna’s attempt to boost Naga Chaitanya’s acting career. And it begs the question, if Nagarjuna Naga really wanted to help Chaitanya, why would he even get him to do this film?
Radhe Shyam
After the tremendous success of Baahubali 1 and 2, Prabhas has fallen into a trap of larger than life blockbusters. It doesn’t matter how bad the film is, but it needs to be assembled on an expansive scale. It doesn’t matter if a film lacks heart and soul, as long as it’s huge, Prabhas doesn’t seem to have any qualms about starring in it.
Bheemla Nayak
It is the remake of the Malayalam hit Ayyappanum Koshiyum. Like Vakeel Saab, Pawan Kalyan finds a way to revolve this film, which was originally a battle of egos dealing with class, social and cultural conflicts, entirely around himself.
F3
Director Anil Ravipudi appears to be making F4. The horror!
