31 December 2006
Hyderabad

The face of Telugu cinema is changing keeping in step with changing times and technology. Here are some interesting observations about the new trends of Telugu cinema

Use of Gadgets
Cell phones and SMSs have changed the way we communicate, although they are a source of distraction too. Lack of communication is an important way to create misunderstanding and conflicts between important characters in films. That is the reason why the usage of cell phones by the lead characters is minimal in our films.

Malls make the art director’s work easy
A decade back, our art directors had to travel all over India to get good props (set properties) for their films. Not any more what with the deluge of huge glitzy state of the art malls like Hyderabad Central, Lifestyle and Shoppers Stop.

Celeb women open shops
As the female celebrities are busy inaugurating shopping malls and jewellery shops in the city, the wives and daughters of celebrities keep themselves busy by operating various clothing outfits. Nirmala (w/o Mohan Babu), Renu Desai (w/o Pawan Kalyan) and Manjula (daughter of Krishna) opened their own shops.

Celebrity sons open graphics/animation
The teenage or just graduated sons of Telugu film celebrities are into graphics and animation. Vishnu (s/0 Mohan Babu), Rana (s/o D Suresh Babu), Vallabha (s/o KS Rama Rao) are a few among many celebrity kids who fall into this category.

Shooting abroad is cheaper than shooting in Hyderabad
Shooting abroad now seems to be more comfortable and also cheaper compared to shooting in Hyderabad. The shooting permission takes less time abroad. The fees they charge are less compared to that in Hyderabad. More importantly, our stars would be far less demanding in terms of comforts than they normally do when they go abroad. Since the unit members are fewer they work in greater harmony. There is no need to have those extra group dancers for foreign shoots. In the earlier days, a film shot abroad made news, today it is a routine affair.

NRI market for Telugu cinema
The NRI market for Telugu cinema has expanded over the past one year. Earlier a much-hyped film would be bought for 50 lakhs. Now, the minimum quotation for a top hero is one crore for overseas. Bommarillu became the highest revenue grosser overseas by fetching a share of more than 2 crores. Mahesh Babu is the hot property in USA now. Telugu films are being regularly released in USA, UK, Gulf, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada and Ireland.

Success factor dictates the heroine price
Telugu film industry runs after success. It used to be Trisha earlier who was considered as a lucky mascot with consecutive hits like Varsham, NVNV and Athadu. Now with a string of flops, Trisha has been taken over by Ileana whose first two films, Devadas and Pokiri turned out to be huge blockbusters. Another heroine in demand is Nayana Tara who has three consecutive super hits (Chandramukhi, Ghazani & Lakshmi) in her kitty. Apart from these crazy heroines, good actresses like Sneha and Charmme are always there.

Multiplexes are in
The revolution of multiplex is on its way. Prasads multiplex was started in 2003 with four regular screens and one IMAX screen. It was a huge success story followed by the launch of another multiplex PVR with five screens. There are a few more multiplexes like Ad Labs (Punjagutta Colony), K Raghavendra Rao’s (near LV Prasad Eye Hospital), GVK’s (near Taj Krishna) and Cine Planet (Kompally) coming up in the city.

Financiers prefer real estate to film financing
Film financiers used to lend money to the producers at very high interest rates. With the real estate boom in Hyderabad, most film financiers are putting their money into real estate and refusing to put in money for film financing. Most of the film fraternity is heavily into real estate. Producers find it profitable to invest in real estate where profits in multiple are guaranteed compared to the unorganised business like filmmaking.

SMS reviews
Earlier it used to take some time for word to spread about the fate of a new film. Now an SMS during the interval does the job. You get to know whether the film is watchable or not.

Dubbing dabbling
If it takes a couple of crores to make a straight small budgeted Telugu film, it takes hardly 20 lakhs to produce small budgeted dubbed films. With ticket prices being the same for straight and dubbed films, most of the producers are taking the wise decision to invest in dubbed films compared to straight film. Irked by this, the Telugu Film Producers Council has passed a mandate that they will not cooperate with the film producers.

Release problems
In the earlier days, only small films used to have release problems, as they could not get the finances to pay the financiers to release their completed film. However, in the past few years, even films of top heroes are having trouble. Palnati Brahma Naidu (Bala Krishna), Narasimhudu (NTR), Andarivadu (Chiranjeevi), Bhageeratha (Ravi Teja) and Sainikudu (Mahesh Babu) are a few of the high profile films that had release problems. Some producers say that it is due to financial problems and some people say that it is due to graphics delay. However, the bottom line is that some of the big producers are becoming inefficient.

FM radios affect audio sales
With the advent of FM radio channels like AIR Rainbow, Radio Mirchi, Radio City, Big FM, 93.5 S fm, the sales of audiocassettes has gone down. Listeners are getting addicted to FM channels where all the latest music is available for free. Music lovers do not find it necessary to buy music CDs of all films unless the music is exceptionally good.

Treat animals with respect
Our censor board would not mind if you kill a human being piece by piece in films, but you will get a cut if you show animals in the film. The PETA (People for Ethnic Treatment of Animals) got the court order that asks the ministry of animal husbandry and ministry of information and broadcasting to give strict instructions not to allow films that show animal cruelty to give censor certificates. Many Telugu films got stuck at censor board due to this. Red star R Narayana Murthy argues that government of India allowing the telecast of international channels like Animal Planet and National Geographic that show animals being shot and treated unkindly, and they have double standards for films. He also sees conspiracy by MNCs in this issue.

Corporate branding is in
Film producers are associating with big brands so that these sponsorships would cover some of the advertising expenses. This corporate branding started with cola companies like Thums Up and Pepsi. Unfortunately, most of the films sponsored by these cola companies turned out to be flops at the box office. Since film industry is driven by sentiment, the producers stopped associating themselves with cola companies. Later on brands like Reliance Infocomm, RS Brothers, Videocon etc got into sponsoring films. the only brand that gelled well with the theme and content of the film so far has been Bru coffee. Sekhar Kammula did a film titled ‘Anand’ with a tagline ‘Manchi Coffee lanti cinema’ and Bru came forward to sponsor this small budget blockbuster.