The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Year of success for tinsel town

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 26, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Year of success for tinsel town

Suresh Krishnamoorthy

2007 also marks beginning of corporatisation of the industry

HYDERABAD: The year 2007 concluded on a note of satisfaction for the Telugu film industry and proved once again that clean family entertainers have a niche for themselves.

Remuneration of actors has gone up as also for the proven film directors who added to their earlier successes. The year also marks the beginning of corporatisation of the industry, mainly in the areas of distribution and publicity. In comparison to 2006, this year has been generally good but, in tune with the trends in the entertainment industry, it has seen ups and downs.

As for the clean entertainers that made it big at the box office, Shekhar Kammula’s ‘Happy Days’, Krishna Vamsi’s ‘Chandamama’ and ‘Adavari Matalaku Ardhalu Verule’, directed by Selva Raghavan and starring Venkatesh are notable.

Such is also the case with two heroine-oriented films that hit the marquee very recently - ‘Anasuya’, directed by Ravi Babu and starring Bhoomika Chawla, and ‘Mantra’ directed by Tulasi Ram with Charmme in the lead. Both have proved that heroines can carry a well-directed film on their shoulders.

The outright commercial entertainers with a lot of masala that have made the B.O. ring include ‘Yamadonga’ that also marked director Rajamouli re-asserting his stature. ‘Dhee’ directed by Srinu Vytla falls in the same genre.

Disappointments

Two disappointments this year were the Chiranjeevi-starrer ‘Shankardada Zindabad’ and Nagarjuna’s ‘Don’. ‘Atithi’ was passable by any yardstick but it failed because it could not match expectations compared to ‘Pokiri’.

Tammareddy Bharadwaja, president, Andhra Pradesh Film Producers Council, is not too unhappy with the way the year went. “Four relatively-small films have been very well accepted. Remuneration has gone up and there is no specific cause for concern,” he says.

D. Suresh of Suresh Productions says: “Overall, 2007 was a very positive year for actors and actresses, technicians and exhibitors and not as positive for those in distribution. As for the established producers, it has been all right. Remuneration going up has been good for those getting it and not so good for those giving it. Otherwise, quality of production and existing systems have stayed static.”

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