Telugu Cinema 2017
2017 was the year, when Telugu cinema went truly pan Indian, with not one but two movies. Bahubali 2 the prequel to Bahubali, emerged as the biggest blockbuster of the year, in a movie that was even better than the first part. Rajmouli ironed out some of the raw edges in Bahubali, and came out with a product that was pitch perfect, yeah some of the climax scenes were a bit over the top, but the final duel between Rana and Prabhas more than made it up. The coronation scene just before the interval, would be one of the finest shot scenes ever. Where the love track was a letdown in Bahubali 1, in this movie the romance was so well etched between Bahubali and Devasena.
The other movie that saw Telugu cinema arriving at a pan India level was the Ghazi Attack, commercially it was not a blockbuster per se. did just about decent, but the impact was far more than mere box office numbers. Submarine movies, a popular genre in Hollywood thanks to movies like Crimson Tide, Hunt for Red October, K-19 was never attempted in Indian cinema. Yeah we had some old movies, where the bad guy used to operate from a submarine, but never a full fledged one. First time director Sankalp Reddy, adapted the real life story of the sinking of Pakistani submarine Ghazi during the 1971 war, to the big screen quite well. Though the underwater effects could have been better, as also some of the technical aspects, the tight narrative, kept the audience interest till the end, not deviating at any point from the main story. And some great performances by Rana, Kay Kay Menon, Atul Kulkarni, even the supporting cast of Bharat Reddy, Satyadev Kancharana made it worth a watch.
The other movie that dominated the year, was an angtsy, dark tale about a young doctor, who goes down a path of self destruction, when he loses the love of his life. Arjun Reddy, a modern day take on the age old Devdas story, was a movie that polarized audiences either into hating it or loving it. The movie though hit it big among youth, with it's realistic style of narration and language, it's raw emotions, terrific performance by Vijay Devarakonda. For more on this movie do read my take here.
After a very long time, you had Chiru and Balayya clashing at the box office on Sankranti, on top of it, Chiru making a comeback after a very long time, his last movie Shankar Dada Zindabad was released in 2007. Khaidi No 150 a remake of the Tamil movie Kaththi starring Vijay, with Chiru in a dual role as a well meaning activist Shankar and a petty criminal Seenu, had just about all the masala needed for the fans, action scenes, drama, sentiment, Kajal Agarwal for the glam quotient, and a message on farmers issues. That coupled with the hype around it being Chiru's comeback and his 150th movie, saw it winning the Sankranti race.
Fun fact: Chiru used his real name Konidela Shiva Shankar Vara Prasad as one of the characters, though in the movie he was mostly referred to as Shankar.
Gautamiputra Satkarni based on the life of the 2nd century Satavahana monarch, was also Balayya's 100th movie. Krish did well in bringing alive the ancient monarch, with his narration, writing, the battle scenes were shot well, and some of the dialogues were quite powerful. Inspite of his rather bulky build, Balayya did well in the lead role, and his body language, expressions were quite good, as the movie did well enough too commercially.
Overshadowed by the two big movies, Sathamanam Bhavati, a feel good family drama with Sharwanand, Prakash Raj and Jayasudha, held on its own, as it clicked well with the family audiences, doing decent business. Sharwanand had another succcess with Mahanubhavudu, a typical Maruthi comedy as the hero with OCD, particular about cleanliness.
Nenu Local was a typical good for nothing hero, stalking the heroine, and she falls for him because well he is the hero kinda flick. Though the movie was a success, it would be among Nani's worst movies to date. Ninnu Kori was a far better movie, with Nani in a role with somewhat grey shades, where he tries to break up his ex's marriage, and realizes. The emotions were well depicted,and great performances by Nani, Nivedha Thomas and Adi Pinisettey made it worth a watch. Nani rounded off the year with another success Middle Class Abbayi, a typical masala flick, making it quite a good year for him.
Shamanthakamani was quite a decent heist thriller,with Adi, Sudheer Babu and Sundeep Kishan as suspects in a heist case, and Nara Rohit as the cop. With grey shade characters, red herrings and twists, the movie was quite engaging.
Shekhar Kammula came back well after the failure of Anamika, with Fidaa, a nice feel good romantic comedy. The Telangana backdrop, nativity, the clash of perspectives between the NRI hero and the local girl, the emotions made it a success with the family audience. For Varun Tej it was his first bonafide hit as a hero, while Sai Pallavi became the youth hearthrob and Pilla Nachinde song was what every female in Telugu states grooved to.
Gopichand attempted to go back to the bad guy roles he was once famous for with Gautam Nanda, where he played the dual role of hero and bad guy. However inspite of a good performance, the movie bombed at the box office,as did his other flick Oxygen, continuing his series of flops.
Boyapati Srinu's Jaya Jaya Janaki Nayaka, inspite of stuffing every trademark element of his- bombastic dialogues, over the top action scenes, gore did not really attract audiences. Rakul Preet Singh keeps weeping, Jagapathi Babu keeps scowling as for Bellamkonda Srinivas, one does not even know what he intends to convey. The movie's dubbed version though proved immensely popular on You Tube.
Hanu Raghavapudi's thriller LIE, inspite of a good plot, premise, action scenes, music lost it out due to some very poor writing, a half baked love track, as the movie bombed. Nene Raju Nene Mantri with Rana and Kajal Agarwal in the lead, was an okayish action flick with a political backdrop. Again an interesting premise, let down by poor writing, and a ridiculous climax, the movie was a decent success though.
Paisa Vaisool was basically Balayya Paithyam combined with Puri Paithyam, resulting in a movie strictly for fans, and to be watched only when you are completely stoned or sloshed. Released during Vinayaka Chaviti, not even Ganesha could save this movie.
Jai Lava Kusa, saw NTR Jr in a triple role for the first time in his career, as a crime lord, a small time crook and a banker. Inspite of one of NTR Jr's best ever performances in the role of Jai, the eldest brother who takes to crime, the movie on it's own was rather underwhelming, continuing the pattern of many NTR Jr movies, where a great performance was letdown by a lackluster script and screenplay.
Spyder turned out to be another disaster for Mahesh Babu after Brahmotsavam. The pyschological thriller of the hero on the trail of a serial killer, was let down by some terrible writing. Murugadoss tried to mix up a thriller with the usual masala elements, and end result was neither here nor there. The movie was a watch mainly due to S.J.Suryah's performance as the pyschotic Bhairavudu, and Mahesh Babu doing well as the investigative officer.
Raju Gari Gadhi 2, the second in the horror comedy franchise, was a remake of the Mallu movie Pretham. While it had the typical comedy from Ashwin, Praveen and Vennela Kishore, the movie's main strength were the performances of Samantha as the spirit, and Nagarjuna as the mentalist, that added depth, and made the movie a decent success. Raja the Great a typical Anil Ravipudi comedy, with Ravi Teja as the blind hero, who takes on the bad guys, had a good run at the box office.
Vunnadhi Okate Zindagi, a story of 5 friends- Ram, Sri Vishnu, Priyadarshi, Kireeti and Koushik, and their bonding, was quite a good movie about friendship. The emotions were well depicted, with some good cinematography, though it does drag a bit too long.
Vivek Atreya made his debut as a director with Mental Madhilo, a romantic comedy revolving around Sri Vishnu as the hero with a borderline personality disorder, who just cannot seem to decide about anything in life and the heroine Nivetha Pethuraj who is just the exact opposite of him. The movie had a decent run, and has since gained popularity with viewers.
Malli Raava was also another well made mature love story, about the characters who meet and fall in love across different time periods, with some good performances by Sumanth and Aakanksha Singh. It marked the debut of Gautham Tinnanuri, who would go on to direct one of my favorites Jersey later.
Sai Dharam Tej had a rather forgettable year with neither Winner nor Jawaan doing any great commercially or critically.
Akhil Akkhineni made his debut as a hero with Hello, but this rehash of Manasantha Nuvve, did not really work with the audiences much. Oka Kshanam a rehash of the Korean movie Parallel Lives starring Allu Sirish, Surabhi was an okayish attempt at a sci fi thriller, but nothing memorable per se.
2017 to me remains one of the best years ever in Telugu cinema- Bahubali 2, Ghazi, Arjun Reddy, Fidaa, Ninnu Kori some of the best movies across genres. A year in which Telugu cinema arrived firmly at the national level with bang.