The 'Telugu actress' is still alive

Tollywood is a gigantic industry in terms of pure numbers. It is one of the largest on the planet, employs thousands of people and most importantly, every year, hundreds of new faces land in Hyderabad to try their luck at the movies.

That influx includes numerous aspiring actresses. Unfortunately for them, employment opportunities are close to zero. And this scenario is not even because of lack of talent. Telugu actresses like Reshma, Sri Divya, Nandita, Shravya, Rakshitha, Nikitha, Madhavi Latha, Supraja,  Swathi and Archana have all made their marks in the industry, but they still find themselves fighting for space with, surprisingly, names who’re just winners of beauty contests and not really actors.

In 2013 alone, Tollywood ‘imported’ at least five beauty queens — Simran Kaur Mundi, Rakul Preet Singh, Amruta Patki, Pooja Chopra and Manasvi — to play leads opposite Telugu heroes. Forget beauty queens, Rana’s upcoming movie project, 'Kavacham', even tried to land Parineeti Chopra opposite him. After a series of rejections, the makers have apparently settled on Shruti Haasan — again, not a Tollywood native.

Fact is, Bollywood actresses are often very, very expensive with fees matching those of Telugu heroes, they’re not exactly recession-friendly hires. Now, however, there’s a bit of hope.

Director Maruthi, known for encouraging local talent, says, “Earlier, local women weren’t interested in joining the industry, but that has changed. The youth today have changed and many girls from AP are coming into films. They have even changed their attitudes and are agreeing to act according to the demands of the script. Fortunately, films with local talent have been successful and the actresses too have got accolades." Sri Divya, who acted in the small but successful film 'Bus Stop', is now busy in the Tamil industry. Reshma made her debut with 'Ee Rojullo' and many feel that the Trisha ‘look-alike’ has a promising career ahead.

Meanwhile, Nandita, who was introduced by director Teja, is now busy in Malayalam film industry. “Tollywood producers’ attitudes must change. Instead of importing actresses, they should encourage local talent,” says Teja. He adds that there is plenty of talent here, but producers don’t have the patience.

“When a producer wants to make a film he will get dates from the lead actor, but he won’t have the patience to search for a local talent and will instead import a leading lady,” feels Teja. The director adds that it also depends on the lead actor’s demands about the female lead.

Maruthi, who has been successful with his low-budget films, says the AP girls are even good for economics.

“If you take an imported actress you have to put her up in a star hotel and pay for her expenses etc. It will cost more,” says the director. He adds that the producer also look at it from a business point of view. “If a big star is playing the lead, the producer goes for an imported actress as he wants the film to do good business.”

Meanwhile, Thammareddy Bharadwaj too feels that there is plenty of talent here and blames producers for not encouraging local talent. “Recently, I saw the promos of a Telugu film that was made with all local artistes. Archana played the female lead and she had done extremely well. I believe, the audience too encourages films that are made with Telugu artistes,” he says.

Maruthi, meanwhile, cautions AP’s newcomers against selecting “bad” roles.

“If three or four of their films are successful, then they will compete with other actresses. But they will have to choose the right films,” he says

The ‘imports’

• Simran Kaur Mundi
• Rakul Preet Singh
• Pooja Chopra
• Amruta Patki
• Manasvi
• Nisha Aggarwal