Superstitious Tollywood
With crores at stake, our filmmakers and stars are perhaps more superstitious
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-09-20 22:51 GMT
Like any other industry, Tollywood has its own share of superstitions. Superstar Mahesh Babu, for example, makes it a point to visit the Ajmer Sharif dargah before every release and this time (before Aagadu’s release) was no exception. The film’s director, Srinu Vaitla, meanwhile, visits the Simhachalam temple in Visakhapatnam. “He is my favourite God and I visit this temple before my film releases,” says Srinu, who visited the temple recently ahead of Aagadu’s release.
Producer Bandla Ganesh’s favourite pilgrimage is Tirupati and he makes it a point to visit the hill shrine with an audio CD before the music release of his films. “Yes, I believe in God and I have been doing this since my first film. I also visit Tirupati the day after my film’s release and shave my head,” he says. Recently Bandla Ganesh visited Tirupati with the audio CD of Govindudu Andarivadele. He also visits Sabarimalai every year and also performs a puja at Shaadnagar.
Like Bandla Ganesh, producer D. Ramanaidu also makes it a point to visit Tirupati with a copy of his film before travelling to Vijayawada to watch the film there. Producer Dil Raj, too, visits Tirupati before the release of his films and shaves his head. Producer Bellamkonda Suresh, meanwhile, visits the Peddamma temple in city and offers puja before his film releases.
Religious sentiments aside, Tollywood biggies have other quirks too. Director Raghavendra Rao, for example, stops shaving once shooting for a film starts. After completion of the film, he visits Tirupati and shaves.Director V.N. Aditya does the same. After shooting is over he visits Chinna Tirupati (Dwaraka Tirumala) and shaves his head. But superstitions are not new in T-town. Yesteryear filmmakers and stars had their own beliefs. After his hit film Sankara-bharanam, director K. Viswanath ensured that all his films started with the letter ‘S’. To name a few — Shankarabharan, Subhodayam, Seethama-halakshmi, Subhalekha, Swathimutyam. Similarly, most of producer S. Gopal Reddy’s films start with the letter ‘M’, from his first film Mangammagari Manavadu to Muddula Mavayya, etc.
Among the current crop, Mahesh Babu ensures all his films have three Telugu characters — Murari, Arjun, Okkadu, Athadu, Pokiri, Dookudu and now Aagadu. ‘1’ Nenokkadine became a flop and the actor will, most probably, insist on the three-character sentiment for his upcoming film with director Koratala Shiva.
Meanwhile, director Vamsi’s superstition is related to river Godavari and most of his films are shot there. He ensures one scene or song in the film shows the river. Allu Arjun, on the other hand, ensures that a few scenes of every film of his are shot in Vizag. Chiranjeevi, meanwhile, would ensure he wore white trousers in at least one song in his movies and director Bharati Raja has an affinity with the letter “R”. The names of most of his actresses start with “R” — Radha, Revathi, Radhika, Rekha and Rajashree. And if the names don’t match, the director changes them to suit his superstition.