- published: 31 Aug 2014
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Telugu cinema, also known by its sobriquet Tollywood, is a part of Indian cinema producing films in the Telugu language, centered around the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, based in the Hyderabad neighbourhood of Film Nagar. Since 1909, filmmaker Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu was involved in many aspects of Indian cinema's history, like producing short films and travelling to different regions in Asia to promote film work. In 1921, he produced the first Telugu silent film, Bhishma Pratigna. He is cited as the father of Telugu cinema.
In 1933, East India Film Company produced its first Indian film, Savitri, in Telugu. Shot in Calcutta on a budget of ₹ 75 thousand, and based on a popular stage play by Mylavaram Bala Bharathi Samajam, the film was directed by father of the "Telugu Theater Movement" Chittajallu Pullaiah and cast stage actors Vemuri Gaggaiah and Dasari Ramathilakam as "Yama" and "Savithri" respectively. The blockbuster film has received an honorary diploma at Venice Film Festival. Multilingual actor Vuppaladadiyam Nagayya was known as the Paul Muni of India, and one of the influential actors of Telugu cinema.
Andhra Pradesh (/ˌɑːndrə prəˈdɛʃ/)( pronunciation ) is one of the 29 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of the country. The state is the eighth largest state in India covering an area of 160,205 km2 (61,855 sq mi). As per 2011 census of India, the state is tenth largest by population with 49,386,799 inhabitants. On 2 June 2014, the north-western portion of the state was bifurcated to form a new state of Telangana. In accordance with the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, Hyderabad will remain the de jure capital of both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states for a period of time not exceeding 10 years. The new river-front proposed capital in Guntur district is Amaravati, which is under the jurisdiction of APCRDA. Economically, the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Andhra Pradesh at today's prices stood at ₹2359.3 billion (US$35 billion) and the Gross State Domestic Product at the prices for the 2013 financial year were ₹4193.91 billion (US$62 billion). The average income of the state rose 62.6% from ₹25,959 (US$380) (2004–05) to ₹42,186 (US$620) (2012-13).
Mahesh Babu (born Mahesh Ghattamaneni, 9 August 1975) is an Indian actor, producer, media personality and philanthropist known for his work in Telugu cinema. He owns the production house G. Mahesh Babu Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. The younger son of actor Krishna, Mahesh holds a bachelor's degree in commerce. At the age of four, he made his debut as a child artist in Needa (1979) and acted in eight other films as a child artist. He made his debut as a lead actor with Rajakumarudu (1999) and won the Nandi Award for Best Male Debut.
Mahesh received breakthrough with the films Murari (2001) and Okkadu (2003); the former fetched him his first Nandi Special Jury Award and the latter fetched him his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu. The commercial successes of the films Athadu (2005) and Pokiri (2006) established him in the Telugu film industry. He later went on to act in other commercially successful films such as Dookudu (2011), Businessman (2012), Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu (2013) and Srimanthudu (2015). To date, he has won seven Nandi Awards, four Filmfare Awards, three CineMAA Awards, two South Indian International Movie Awards and one International Indian Film Academy Awards.