First half of 2023 for Telugu cinema has seen a lull

There have been a few blockbusters, of course, but they are not enough to keep the flame going and the conversation running.

Do moviegoers even remember Chiranjeevi’s antics in ‘Waltair Veerayya’ or the loud punchlines uttered by Nandamuri Balakrishna in ‘Veera Simha Reddy’? In fact, the skeletal plots of these movies resemble each other, and one can study them in order to understand the shallowness of revenge dramas.

This time last year, we had SS Rajamouli’s ‘RRR’, a buffet that was lapped up by the global audience; ‘Bheemla Nayak’, which kept the die-hard fans of Trivikram’s alliterative phrases on their toes; and ‘DJ Tillu’, whose male protagonist’s self-deprecatory jokes rode the carousel of memes. And, not to forget, there was also ‘Sarkaru Vaari Paata’, a likeable-in-parts movie that Mahesh Babu tried his best to convert into a sermon on the importance of banks.

Even though Om Raut’s ‘Adipurush’ has single-handedly emerged as the winner in the “so bad, it’s good” category, it has already begun to gather dust. While the faithful are disappointed with it due to its erroneous depiction of mythical characters, the rationalists have found nothing to place their bets on. This massive misfire is a demonstration of technology’s irrelevance in the face of a disaster. How can visual effects save a picture from the depths of hopelessness if its basic structure itself is wobbly?

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This aphorism can be applied to Venkat Prabhu’s ‘Custody’ also because the two pieces of drama and comedy work against one another here. Prabhu is a terrific filmmaker when it comes to making banter fly off the roof, but when he adds tear-jerking episodes, he loses his path.

The showstopper, then, is ‘Virupaksha’. It’s indeed a surprise to see a horror thriller rise above the ordinary tropes and chart a new path in the dictionary of its genre. It creates suspense by carefully fleshing out the apprehensions of superstitious people and dragging the storyline to its conclusion without breaking the momentum.

It’s not as eerily constructed as ‘Masooda’ (2022), but it’s got a solid backstory that stands on its own two feet. Why don’t A-list stars take a shot at scaring the viewers within the four walls of the theatres instead of scaring them away for once? Ahem, ahem, ‘Shaakuntalam’! But what’s the use of poking fun at it when every other action movie also falls to the ground with a thud?

‘Dasara’ carries a lot of pluses on its back, including some earnest performances from its primary cast, but it hasn’t done much to change the direction of the wind within the industry. Nani’s charm and his readiness to spin a web of witticisms are fully evident in ‘Ante Sundaraniki’ (2022). His moroseness, on the other hand, seems like a mask he wears only for outings that can be termed “mass”.

Onwards and upwards

With ‘Sir’, Dhanush has rightly achieved what Mahesh Babu has been trying to do for almost a decade now: Deliver a message without stepping on a landmine of social lessons. Here, he hits the bull’s eye as a tough taskmaster who’s adored by the students he teaches and loathed by the corporate honchos he encounters in his career. ‘Balagam’, too, joins this rank effortlessly by diving deep into the notion of togetherness.

The climactic stretch in which the differences of the different members of the same family are set aside is especially thoroughly cooked and served. Venu Yeldandi has certainly proved that he’s a filmmaker to watch out for.

Nevertheless, all these mentions are just to say that the fervent echoes at the box office haven’t translated into the currency of the larger population’s imagination.

In ‘Samajavaragamana’, there’s more chemistry between Naresh and Sree Vishnu, who feature as a lazy father and a responsible son, respectively, than between the latter and his girlfriend (played by Reba Monica John). And in ‘Phalana Abbayi Phalana Ammayi’, there are more silences than romantic gestures. As an indie drama that focuses on second chances, it definitely manages to stay afloat. But, as a tale revolving around love and its associated experiments, it doesn’t have many takers.

This leaves a lot of room for the first part of ‘Salaar’, which is expected to hit screens in the last week of September, to bowl us over. It’s hard to determine the pull factors of ‘Bhola Shankar’, which stars Chiranjeevi, Tamannaah, and Keerthy Suresh, at the moment, as there doesn’t seem to be any cause for cheer there; it can swing either way. However, since ‘Salaar’ is being chiselled by the ‘KGF’ team, it comes with the seal of a minimum guarantee. Also, one wonders if ‘Pushpa 2’ will see the light of day anytime soon. But here’s the more important question: will it open up another portal for Telugu cinema?