Tollywood’s kiss and tell saga

Hyderabad: Kisses have become as run-of-the-mill in Tollywood as they are in Bollywood these days. Makers are ensuring that lip-locks are seen in the films’ posters, like a publicity stunt.

In the recent Ra Ra Krishnayya, the long kiss between Sundeep Kishan and Regina Cassandra had become a talking point. Similarly, in Oka Criminal Prema Katha, the lead pair, Manoj Nandam and Priyanka, also have a kissing scene.

“The censor board would not okay these scenes earlier but it has changed its rules. Also, writers, while writing the script, are insisting that the director ask the lead actress if she is comfortable with a kissing scene before signing her,” says filmmaker B. Jaya.

In Manam too, Naga Chaitanya and Samantha have a kissing scene. Actors of the younger generation have no problem with these scenes and they are good for publicity, says a source.

In fact, Allu Arjun has been involved in the most lip-locks, in his earlier films Vedam, Varudu and Arya-2. A few year back, director V.N. Aditya’s Raaj, with Sumanth, Vimala Raman and Priyamani in the leads, had become a talking point as the director had publicised that Sumanth had kissing scenes with both the female leads. However, that was not enough to make the film a hit.

Talking about his kissing scene in Ra Ra Krishnayya, Sundeep Kishan says, “I am an actor and I follow my director. The lip-lock scene was part of the script and it is a form of expression. We are not using it as a commercial point like putting the scene in a song or somewhere. If you watch the film, it will come in the end of the story where the lead pair is united.” He adds that if the same scene was made with a commercial purpose, it would have looked awkward.

In fact, superstars Mahesh Babu and Pawan Kalyan too have had kissing scenes, in their films Businessman and Teenmar respectively. But those scenes were blink-and-you-miss-it ones and were not publicised, unlike the current crop of films.