Tollywood

Mughal Gardens replica in Ramoji Film City, a movie studio in Hyderabad
Industry	Motion pictures
Founded	1921 - Madras, Madras Presidency (now Chennai, Tamil Nadu)
Headquarters	Film Nagar, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India, India
Website	www.apfilmchamber.com

The Cinema of Andhra Pradesh (also known as Telugu cinema or Tollywood) is a South Indian film industry based in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. The Telugu language film industry, being the second largest in India, in terms of market capitalization and infrastructure, holds a memorandum of understanding with Motion Picture Association of America to combat video piracy.^[1][2][3] As per the CBFC report of 2010, the industry stood third in India, in terms of films produced yearly.^[4] The industry holds the Guinness World Record for the largest film production facility in the world.^[5]

Industry[link]

Moola Narayana Swamy and B. N. Reddy founded Vijaya Vauhini Studios in 1948 based in Chennai.^[6] Indian film doyen, L. V. Prasad who started his film career with Bhakta Prahlada has founded Prasad Studios in 1956 based in Chennai.^[7] However, through the efforts of D. V. S. Raju, the Telugu film industry has completely shifted its base from Chennai to Hyderabad in the early 1990s, during N. T. Rama Rao's political realm.^[8]

Veteran actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao was the first person to come to Hyderabad and build a studio, which he named Annapurna Studios. The Telugu film industry is one of the three largest film producers in India. About 245 Telugu films were produced in 2006, the highest in India for that year. Film producing studios in Andhra Pradesh, developed by D. Ramanaidu and Ramoji Rao are involved in prolific film production and employment.^[9]

The industry accounts for 1% of the gross domestic product of Andhra Pradesh.^[10] There is a fair amount of dispersion among the Indian film industries. Many successful Telugu films have been remade by the Hindi and Tamil film industries. The industry also remakes a few Hindi, Tamil, and Malayalam movies. Many Tamil films are dubbed into Telugu on release.^[11]. The Prasads IMAX theatre in Hyderabad is one of the biggest IMAX 3D screens in the world.^[12]

History[link]

Early development: 1912–1930[link]

The Telugu film industry originated with silent films in 1912, with the production and release of Bhisma Pratighna in 1921 ^[13] The film was directed by Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu and his son R. S. Prakash.^[14] The two, along with Yaragudipati Varada Rao, would go on to produce and direct dozens of films throughout the decade, casting theater actors in major roles.^[15] They established a long-lasting precedent of focusing exclusively on religious themes; Nandanar,^[16] Gajendra Moksham, and Matsyavatar, three of their most famous productions, centered on religious figures, parables, and morals.^[17]

Rise of the talkie: 1931–1947[link]

In 1931, the first Telugu film with audible dialogue, Bhakta Prahlada, was produced by H.M. Reddy.^[21] Popularly known as talkies, films with sound quickly grew in number and popularity. In 1934, the industry saw its first major commercial success with Lavakusa. Directed by C. Pullaiah and starring Parupalli Subbarao and Sriranjani in lead roles, the film attracted unprecedented numbers of viewers to theaters and thrust the young film industry into mainstream culture.^[22]

By 1936, the mass appeal of film allowed directors to move away from religious and mythological themes.^[22] That year, under the direction of Krithiventi Nageswara Rao, Prema Vijayam, a film focusing on social issues, was released. Its success prompted the production of dozens of other immensely successful 'social films', notably 1939's Vandemataram and Maala Pilla. Touching on societal problems like the status of Untouchables and the practice of giving dowry, Telugu films increasingly focused on contemporary living: 29 of the 96 films released between 1937 and 1947 had social themes.^[23]

The outbreak of World War II and the subsequent resource scarcity caused the British Raj to impose a limit on the use of filmstrip in 1943 to 11,000 feet,^[24] a sharp reduction from the 20,000 feet that had been common till then.^[25] As a result, the number of films produced during the war was substantially lower than in previous years. Nonetheless, before the ban, an important shift occurred in the industry: independent studios formed, actors and actresses were signed to contracts limiting who they could work for, and films moved from social themes to folklore legends.^[26]

Commercial stance[link]

The industry is one of the commercially consistent film industry in India, ^[27][28] Telugu cinema had its influence over commercial cinema in India. ^[29] As one of the few revenue generating film industries of India, Telugu film production accounts for one percent of the gross domestic product of Andhra Pradesh.^[30][28]

Pokiri has been remade in Hindi, Tamil and Kannada in a span of 2 years owing to the film's commercial success, the film was screened at the IIFA film festival held in Dubai in 2006.^[31] With the strategic increase in production costs, films like Pokiri, Bommarillu, Arundhati, Magadheera and Dookudu have been the biggest blockbusters in the last few years.

Critical reception[link]

The industry is one of the largest producers of folklore, historical, fantasy and mythological films in Indian cinema, a considerable contribution has been made in this genre.^[32][33][34] Veteran B. Vittalacharya is considered as a pioneer in the fantasy genre film making and special effects.^[35]

There is a market driven tradition of narrating mythology, history, fairy tales, song and dance, action sequences, large than life characterization of lead actors in Telugu films.^[36]

Swathi Muthyam was the only Telugu film to be sent by India as its official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards in 1986.^[27][37][38]

Cast and crew[link]

Chittor V. Nagaiah was one of the most influential actors of South Indian cinema.^[19] S. V. Ranga Rao is one of the first Indian actors of the time to receive international award at Indonesian Film Festival, held in Jakarta for the film Narthanasala in 1963.^[39] Chiranjeevi, known popularly as Megastar in the Indian media, has won nine Filmfare Awards South, and was one of the most commercially successful Telugu actor of his time.^[40]

Brahmanandam, a Telugu actor, holds a Guinness World Record for acting in the most films in the same language.^[41][42] S.P. Balasubrahmanyam is a multilingual playback singer from Telugu film industry, to have won National Film Awards across four languages. He holds the record of having recorded the most number of songs for any male playback singer and has received twenty five Nandi Awards from Andhra Pradesh.^[43] Mahesh Babu, the most sought after contemporary Telugu actor was listed among Times 50 Most Desirable Men for the year 2011 at 5th position.^[44][45]

Hyderabad International Convention Center^[46] has been the Hyderabad home for Filmfare Awards South from 2007^[47][48]

Dubbed films[link]

Tamil films are regularly dubbed into Telugu and have a decent market in Andhra Pradesh. There have been instances of dubbed films from Tamil overtaking profits of Telugu films in the state which made the Andhra government increase the entertainment tax for dubbed films.^[49] In 2005, the Telugu box office was entirely dominated by dubs from Tamil.^[50] The dubbed version of Enthiran (Robot) grossed 60 crore in Andhra Pradesh, becoming the second highest grossing film in the state.^[51]

From the early 90's to the mid 90's; many Malayalam action thrillers and sometimes even period films, had excellent outing in Andhra Pradesh; the most popular ones being Police Commissioner, Samrajyam, Mafia, New Delhi and Kaalapani.

Film schools[link]

The Film and Television Institute of Andhra Pradesh, Ramanaidu Film School and Annapurna International School of Film and Media are some of the largest film schools of India.^[52][53]

State awards[link]

• Nandi Awards
• Raghupathi Venkaiah Award
• NTR National Award
• B. N. Reddy National Award
• Nagi Reddy Chakrapani National Award

Other awards[link]

• Filmfare Awards South
• CineMAA Awards
• Sangam Academy Award
• Allu Rama Lingaiah Award
• Gollapudi Srinivas Award
• FNCC Awards
• Santosham Film Awards
• ANR National Award
• T. Subbarami Reddy Award ^[54]

Other studios in Hyderabad[link]

• Ramanaidu Studios
• Saradhi Studios
• Ramakrishna Studios
• Padmalaya Studios
• Annapurna Studios
• Fire Fly Creative Studios^[55][56]

See also[link]

• Cinema of India
• Cinema of the world

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cinema of Andhra Pradesh

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Mahesh Babu
Mahesh Babu at the Univercell store in - 2010.
Born	Mahesh Babu Ghattamaneni (1975-08-09) August 9, 1975 (age 36)[1] Madras, Tamil Nadu, India
Residence	Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1979–1991 1999–present
Spouse	Namrata Shirodkar (2005 - Present)
Children	Gautam Krishna Ghattamaneni
Parents	Siva Rama Krishna Ghattamaneni Indira Devi

Mahesh Babu (born Mahesh Babu Ghattamaneni on 9 August 1975) is an Indian film actor best known for his work in Telugu cinema. Born to actor Krishna, Mahesh Babu faced the camera at the age of four as a child artist in 1979's Needa. His first leading role was in the film Rajakumarudu, which was released in August 1999.^[2]

After playing the role of a young Kabaddi player in the 2003 blockbuster film Okkadu, Mahesh continued in this vein, gaining mass appeal and appearing in many successful films such as Murari (2001), Athadu (2005), Pokiri (2006), Dookudu (2011) and Business Man (2012).^[3] These accomplishments, have established him as one of the most sought after actors in Telugu Cinema.^[4] He was listed at 5th position among Times 50 Most Desirable Men for the year 2011 and at 12th place the year before.^[5][6]

Mahesh Babu has worked in nine films as a child artist and in seventeen films as a lead actor till date. He has won six Andhra Pradesh state Nandi Awards, two Filmfare Best Telugu Actor Awards and two CineMAA Awards. In addition to the films, he also endorses several brands such as Thums Up, Navratna Oil, Univercell, Amrutanjan,^[7] Provogue,^[8] Idea, Vivel, Jos Alukkas^[9] and Santoor Soap in Andhra Pradesh.^[7][10]

Early life[link]

Mahesh Babu was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, to prominent Telugu Cinema Actor Ghatamaneni Siva Rama Krishna and Smt. Indira Devi on August 9, 1975.^[11] He is the younger brother of actor turned producer Ramesh Babu Ghattamaneni.^[12] He also has two elder sisters, Padmavathi and actress-producer Manjula Ghattamaneni and one younger sister Priyadarshini.^[13] All siblings have the rare honor of having acted in films as child artistes. Mahesh’s childhood was spent mostly in Madras under the care of his paternal grandmother Smt. Durgamma and the rest of his family.^[14] His father made sure all the children spent sufficient time with him on location and on his sets, especially during holidays. Mahesh many times said that this was where his interest for acting began.^[15] The film sets were a second playground and he did not hesitate to face the camera when asked to do a small role in his brother Ramesh Babu‘s debut film, Needa at the age of 4.^[15] Mahesh studied at St. Bede‘s School in Chennai while continuing to attend his dad’s filming during holidays.^[16] Few of his schoolmates at St.Bede's were Surya (Tamil film actor) and Vishnuvardhan (Tamil film director).^[17] Mahesh obtained an Honours Degree in Commerce from Loyola College, Chennai.^[18] Mahesh Babu acted in seven of his father's films as a child actor.

Personal life[link]

Mahesh dated Bollywood actress and former Femina Miss India Namrata Shirodkar for five years.^[19] She was his co-star in the movie Vamsi. They got married on February 10, 2005 in Mumbai.^[20] They have a son named Gautam Krishna (b. 31 August 2006).^[21]

Career[link]

Early career (1979-1990)[link]

He started his acting career by playing a small role in his brother Ramesh Babu‘s debut film, Needa under Dr. Dasari Narayana Rao's direction in 1979, at the age of 4.^[22] In 1983, at the age of 8, director Kodi Ramakrishna requested him to play a role in the film Poratam since they were having difficulty casting for the role of Krishna’s sibling. This was his first full length feature film.^[23] Producer / Director Dhoondy, one of the early backers of Krishna in his struggling days, watched a preview of the movie and was stunned to find out he was Krishna’s own son and remarked that there was a spark in him and he would become an excellent artist.^[24] True to that prognostication, Mahesh went on to win the hearts of many Telugu film lovers as a child artist through varied roles. In Sankharavam (1987) he faced the cameras with his father directing him for the first time.^[25] Veteran director A. Kodandarami Reddy directed him and his brother Ramesh for Bazaar Rowdy (1988), where he won accolades for his acting.^[26] Mugguru Kodukulu (1988) saw him again team up with his brother and father, the father directing them all this time.^[27] Gudachari 117 (1989) reunited Mahesh with his first film director Kodi Ramakrishna in a James Bond type of flick for which his dad, the lead in the movie, was famous.^[28] Koduku Diddina Kapuram (1989), directed by Krishna again, had Mahesh in a dual role.^[29] Balachandrudu and Anna Tammudu (1990) saw the teenaged Mahesh Babu completing his first innings on celluloid after which he concentrated on his studies and went out of the public eye while letting nature take its course through the awkward adolescent years.^[30]

1999-2004[link]

In 1999, Mahesh was re-introduced as a full-fledged hero with the movie Raja Kumarudu (The Prince).^[31] Directed by K. Raghavendra Rao and co-starring Priety Zinta, this movie was a debonair start for his career earning him Nandi Award for Best Male Debutant.^[32] After the movie was released, both fans and the media started fondly calling him Prince Mahesh.^[33] His next release Yuvaraju followed in the year 2000.^[34] Directed by Y.V.S Chowdary, the movie did moderately well at the box office completing 100 days in 19 centers all over AP.^[35] In the same year, another movie Vamsi under the direction of B. Gopal was released and this movie had Namrata Shirodkar co-starring for the first time with Mahesh.^[36] During the movie, the on screen couple Mahesh and Namrata started seeing each other in real life and this relationship later resulted in their marriage.^[37]

In 2001, his successful movie Murari, Directed by Krishna Vamsi and co-starring Sonali Bendre, was released^[38] and earned Mahesh plaudits from all sections of audience and from critics.^[39] He bagged a Nandi Special Jury Award^[40] for his performance in the film. Takkari Donga, produced and directed by Jayanth C. Paranjee was released in 2002, where Mahesh essayed the role of a cowboy.^[41] The role and the movie were meant to honor the legacy of Krishna as the first ever Indian cowboy and also the first Indian cowboy movie Mosagallaku Mosagadu.^[42] His untiring effort in the movie led to another Nandi Special Jury Award.^[43] He had another release in that year, Bobby. Mahesh was paired along Aarthi Agarwal in this movie which was directed by Sobhan.^[44]

Mahesh was next seen in Okkadu directed by Gunasekhar and co-starring Bhumika Chawla, the movie was produced by M.S. Raju.^[45] This movie was released in 2003 and it remains as a landmark film in Mahesh Babu's career. He won his first Filmfare Best Actor Award (Telugu) for this movie.^[46] His next movie Nijam co-starring Rakshita was directed by Teja.^[47] Mahesh‘s performance acquired him the prestigious Nandi Award for Best Actor.^[48] In 2004, he worked with director S. J. Suryaah and had paired with Amisha Patel for the movie Naani.^[49] This movie was produced by his sister Manjula Ghattamaneni.^[50] The same year also had Mahesh again collaborating with Gunasekhar for his next movie Arjun which was produced by his brother G. Ramesh Babu.^[51] He received a Nandi Special Jury Award for his emotional performance in the film.^[52]

2005-2010[link]

In 2005, Mahesh married Namrata Shirodkar after being in a relationship with her for almost 5 years.^[53] The year also saw the first release after his marriage and Trivikram Srinivas’s second directorial venture, Athadu.^[54] He was paired alongside with Trisha Krishnan. Mahesh once again achieved critical acclaim for his performance in the movie and also earned himself the Nandi Award for Best Actor for the second time.^[55] Pokiri, produced jointly by his sister Manjula Ghattamaneni and Vaishno Academy and directed by Puri Jagannadh was the highest grossing Telugu film of the year.^[56] The movie saw him paired alongside with Ileana D'Cruz. Pokiri was a success in AP as well as other states and overseas. The film completed 100 days in as many as 200 centres in Andhra Pradesh and completed silver jubilee in a record 63 centres.^[57] Mahesh earned his second Filmfare award for this movie.^[58]

The year also saw Mahesh working again with Director Gunasekhar and actress Trisha Krishnan for the movie Sainikudu.^[59] In 2007, for his next venture Mahesh embraced corporate film making in Telugu Film Industry.^[60] He collaborated with UTV and with young director Surender Reddy for Athidi which made him the first corporate hero in Telugu Film Industry.^[61] He was paired along side Amrita Rao.^[62] After Athidi, Mahesh devoted more time to family matters with a new toddler to spend time with, supporting and helping Namrata cope with her father’s illness and then his death, followed by Namrata’s mother’s bout with cancer and her death.^[63] In 2008, Mahesh lent his voice for the film Jalsa, directed by his friend Trivikram Srinivas.^[64] In 2009 Mahesh started working on a movie with Trivikram Srinivas as director.^[65]

In 2010, after a 3 year long hiatus Mahesh returned to the silver screen with the movie Khaaleja.^[66] Directed by his friend Trivikram Srinivas, the movie languished in development hell due to production problems^[67] and the telangana agitations.^[68] Upon release, the movie received mixed reviews and also became one of the highest grossing Telugu films overseas.^[69] The year also saw Mahesh embracing social networking site Twitter to interact with his fans.^[70]

2011–present[link]

In 2011, Mahesh's film Dookudu co–starring Samantha Ruth Prabhu was released. Directed by Srinu Vaitla and was produced by 14 Reels Entertainment, it broke many records in the Telugu film industry upon release by taking the largest worldwide opening, earning 21.2 crores in 3 days,^[71] and becoming the highest grossing Telugu film overseas^[72] by earning 1.5 million dollars in the first weekend.^[73] The film set a box office record for the Telugu film industry by collecting a gross of more than 1 billion^[74] and completed a successful run in 312 centers after 50 days.^[75] CNN-IBN for the year 2011, declared him as the Actor of the Year and Dookudu as the Hit of the Year in a survey conducted for Telugu films.^[76] Mahesh began shooting for Business Man co–starring Kajal Aggarwal. The film was directed by Puri Jagannadh and produced by RR Movie Makers, releasing worldwide on January 13, 2012.^[77] Similar to his previous release, it took the largest worldwide opening^[78] by collecting 18.73 crores on the first day^[79] and 62.93 crores worldwide in the first week.^[80] For the first time in his career, Mahesh along with the director Puri Jagannadh lent his vocals for a song in the project.^[81] According to certain reports, Mahesh emerged as the highest paid actor in South India after Rajnikanth.^[82] He was listed 5th in the Times survey of the 50 Most Desirable Men in India, becoming the only South Indian to have been done so.^[83]