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Telugu films, non-Telugu talent

Local producers are betting on neighbouring talent to deliver hits

SMASH HIT Prabhudeva made a splash in Telugu films

Hyderabad surely has become a movie-making Makkah for film-makers from the neighbouring states. Despite a box office slump, film-makers continue to import neighbouring talent in the hope of turning things around. Of late, a lot of local films have been doing really bad. Despite good local scripts, the audience here seems to have taken a liking for Tamil films that, trade pundits feel, are far more superior in quality. This is precisely why dubbed films are selling like never before. A case in point is Aparichitudu. Even Stalin was directed by Murugadass. The director gained popularity in the State after the blockbuster Gazini.

It isn't surprising then that AP producers are scrambling for the dates of Tamil directors. Allu Aravind had roped in Karunakar to direct Happy and Naga Babu had chosen Murugadass to direct Stalin. Even Pawan Kalyan's latest film, Bangaram, is directed by Dharani, a Tamilian. Nitin's next project is being directed by Siddique, a Malayali who has delivered three hits in a row in his hometown. Balakrishna's Veerabhadra is being directed by P Vasu, who is not a local and so is the case with Suresh Krishna, who is directing Astram.

The trend started off last year with dubbed films doing well and M.S. Raju's Nuvvosthanante, directed by Prabhudeva. Lawrence, who, like Prabhudeva, is also from Chennai, has given two hit films. Apparently both these directors are now trying to prove their worth in Tamil films now. Gopichand's Ranam gets more importance because of director Rajkumar who is a non-local.

With most of the films released earlier this year, including Vijaybhaskar's Jai Chiranjeeva, turning duds, film-makers are now betting on good music to woo the audiences. In this case too, the composers are of the imported variety. The fad of giving a very Southie touch to the music has caught on well. And so, we have Harris Jayraj scoring music for Sainikudu, Vidyasagar for Bangaram, and S.A. Rajkumar had already given some lilting music for Rajababu and Sankranti. Another music director who has joined this list is Srikant Deva who is working on Emandoi Srivaaru. So is this the end of the road for Telugu film-makers? We hope the answer is no.

Y. SUNITA CHOWDHARY

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