Telugu Cinema 2018

2017 pushed the bar up for Telugu cinema with Bahubali 2, Arjun Reddy, and that gave a lot of hope for aspiring young movie makers, seeking to break away from the standard formulaic narratives. The year started with a disaster, that showed audiences were not willing to accept anything that goes.

Neither Pawan Kalyan's star power, nor the Sankranti festival week, could save Agnyaathavasi from turning into a disaster, which would be Trivikram's worst movie to date. While not exactly a maestro, one could always count on Trivikram to churn out a reasonably entertaining movie. His movies combined emotion, comedy, drama well enough, even though he freely lifted from every foreign movie, he could still create a reasonably good entertainer. His forte was good writing, which went completely missing in Agnyathavasi, as the movie kept shifting from one scene to another, without making any sense, add to it the utter cringe depiction of the heroines. The only redeeming factor was Anirudh Ravichander's music. The failure of the movie though was a boon of sorts for Balayya's Jai Simha which had a decent run.

Trivikram however redeemed himself later in the year with Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava, a typical Seema genre movie with revenge, bloodshed. What worked was the writing here, with some scenes really being a standout, especially the one where Jr NTR negotiates with Naveen Chandra. Trivikram's forte have always been the emotional scenes, and he is on spot here. And a brilliant performance by Jr.NTR, which for once is not let down by the script, as well as Jagapathi Babu making up one of the most menacing bad guys. Trivikram came back well after the Agnyathavasi fiasco.

As did Keerthi Suresh after her cringe inducing performance in Agnyathavasi, she came back strongly with a brilliant performance in Mahanati. Bringing alive one of the greatest actresses of Telugu cinema, Savitri would always be a challenge. Her performances on screen, her rather troubled personal life and tragic ending, added so many layers to her personality. Credit to Keerthi Suresh as she transitions well from a wide eyed teenager to a star heroine to a woman drawn into a personal conflict. The biopic depicted Savitri gaaru's life well enough, as also bringing alive the period of that time, and some great supporting performances by Dulquer Salman as Gemini Ganeshan, Krish as K.V.Reddy, Prakash Raj as Chakrapani, and Samantha-Vijay Devarakonda as the journalists trying to uncover her life. After his debut Evade Subramanyam, Nag Aswhin emerged as a director to watch out for with this movie.

Anushka Shetty once again pulled off a succcess with another heroine oriented movie Bhagamathi, a thriller with a supernatural background. The movie was fairly gripping, inspite of some loose ends, and it was an Anushka show all the way as she literally carried it on her own.

Chalo was a total fun ride, set in a town split into two rival groups, one Telugu, one Tamil and the hero falling for the daughter of one of the faction leaders. Fairly entertaining movie that turned out to be the biggest success ever in Naga Shourya's career, and also marked the debut of Rashmika Mandanna.

Ravi Teja had a forgettable year with Touch Chesi Choodu, Nela Ticket and Amar, Akbar Antony, all turning out to be disasters, as he just seemed to be going through the motions. Sai Dharam Tej too had a forgettable year with both Intelligent and Tej, I Love You flopping. As did Gopichand with Pantham that was a total washout.

Venky Atluri made his debut as a director with Tholi Prema, a nice feel good love story, with Varun Tej and Rashi Khanna that did well commercially. The movie worked well with the youth and family audiences, and a good soundtrack by Thaman helped too. The success of this following Fida earlier, firmly established Varun Tej, though his Mister was a dud, his other movie Antariksham 9000 kmph though not commercially success, earned critical acclaim for attempting a space movie genre.

Awe is among one of my favorites of the 2010s, an anthological feature with different stories, that explores different themes like mental illness, gender, sexuality. It was also the first Telugu cinema to depict lesbianism, fortunately not taking the sleazy route out to show it. After years of playing glam characters on screen, Kajal Agarwal comes into her own as the troubled lead Kali, in an emotionally complex role. Some great performances too by Nithya Menen, Esha Rebba, Regina Cassandra, Priyadarshi, Srinivas Avasarala and Murali Sharma.

Nikhil's Kirrak Party a remake of the Kannada movie of the same name that was directed by Rishabh Shetty, a campus story that traces the transition of the lead character, and his loss of innocence, had an average run, but nowhere as successful as the Kannada original.

Rangasthalam again one of the best movies of 2010s, and Sukumar's best movie to date for me. After two back to back slick urban thrillers 1,Nenokidanne and Nanaku Prematho, Sukumar moves into a completely rural atmosphere. The movie depicts the rural areas in a completely raw, rustic narrative, right from the language to the costumes, reminiscient of many such movies from Tamil cinema in 2000s. Unlike the standard depiction of villages in many Telugu movies as some kind of rustic paradise, the depiction here is of a backward, poverty stricken village, controlled by a tyrannical landlord. Terrific performance by Ramcharan in a completely different role from what he has played, as Chittibabu, who is deaf in one ear. And equally good supporting acts from Jagapathibabu(menacing as ever), Adi, Naresh, Rohini, Anasuya, Samantha. Add to it a superb soundtrack by Devi Sri Prasad.

Nani had a rather forgettable year with both Krishnarjuna Yuddham and Devadasu with Nag failing to impress, and neither of those movies were particularly memorable either. As did Nithin with both Chal Mohana Ranga and Srinivasa Kalyanam not doing too well.

After the twin disasters of Brahmotsavam and Spyder, Mahesh Babu came back well with Bharat Ane Nenu, turning out to be one of the biggest hits of the year. Koratala Siva in his usual style mixed drama with messaging well, as the movie traces the rise of the protagonist, who becomes a CM after his father's death and the challenges he faces.

Naa Peru Surya, Naa Illu India tried to combine anger management with the hero taking on the bad guys and goons single handedly, set against a patriotic backdrop, as it ultimately ended up a mismash of all. It was primarily Allu Arjun's charisma and performance that somehow pulled the movie along.

Nag and Ram Gopal Varma tried to recreate the magic of Shiva with Officer, that however ended up a massive disaster, adding one more to Varma's long list of flops.

Sammohanam was one of those nice, sweet rom coms, though a rehash of Notting Hill, worked well primarily due to the charm of Aditi Rao Hydari who was gorgeous, and the chemistry between her and Sudheer Babu.

Ee Nagariniki Emaindhi, directed by Tharun Bhascker, a story of 4 friends- Vishwak Sen, Abhinav Gomatam, Venkatesh Kakumanu and Sai Sushanth Reddy, who meet after a long time in Goa and their experiences, was an excellent movie in the buddy comedy genre, with great performances from all the 4 leads. The movie did well on release and remains a cult favorite to date.

RX 100 turned out to be a sleeper hit, an intense action love story that had two debutantes Karthikeya Gummakonda and Payal Rajput making their debuts. Again like Arjun Reddy, the movie turned out to be polarizing, with people either loving it or hating it. However the story, the narration, the ending, the bold stuff by Payal Rajput all pulled in the audiences. Yesteryear's star Ramki of Sindhura Puvva fame, plays a key role as the hero's father figure.

Rahul Ravindran made his debut as a director with Chi La Sow, a sweet romantic drama that went to become a hit, Ruhani Sharma's winsome charm and a good performance by Sushanth, along with some good writing, attracted the audiences.

Adivi Sesh continued his success run with Goodachari, a gripping spy thriller, that is among my favorites of the 2010s. Inspite of some scenes being taken from Kingsman series, director Shashi Kiran Tikka,comes up with a good narration, not getting to sidetracked from the main storyline, and some well shot action scenes.

Vijay Devarakonda did a complete about turn in Geeta Govindam, from his Arjun Reddy persona, in a typical feel good family drama, playing Mr.Nice Guy. His chemistry with Rashmika Mandanna,a good soundtrack by Gopi Sunder pulled in the family audiences, as the movie ended up as one of the biggest hits of the year. Though his NOTA disappointed, Vijay Devarakonda had another good year with Taxiwala having a decent run, and playing a crucial role in Mahanati.

C/O Kancharapalem an anthology of 4 different stories that come together at the end, was one of the best movies of the year, and among my favorites of the 2010s. Venkatesh Maha takes a completely new cast, sets it against a small town backdrop, and weaves a brilliant narration, taking a look into the lives of it's characters, with the emotions well etched out.

U Turn a remake of the Kannada movie of the same name was a fairly good supernatural thriller, with some good performances by Samantha, Adi and Bhumika Chawla, though let down by it's ending.

Padi Padi Leche Manasu though not commercially sucessful was quite a good love story, with some good performances by Sharwanand and Sai Pallavi.

Bluff Master starring Satyadev was a fairly good thriller, and though did not do too well commercially, later became a success on TV, DVD.

The year was marked by the tragic death of Sridevi, one of the finest actresses of Telugu cinema ever, who combined beauty and talent well. The Atiloka Sundari became one with the heavens, leaving many of her fans shocked.

2018 was another great year, where directors now went ahead with different genres and narration. Regardless of their commercial succcess or failure, movies like Awe, C/o Kancharapalem, Ee Nagaraniki Emayindi, Anatariksham showed the willingess of directors to break out from the comfort zone. You had the feel good family dramas like Geeta Govindam doing well along with the raw and rustic, rural dramas like Rangasthalam and political movies like Bharat Ane Nenu.