Tollywood The year that was

Ram Charan overtakes his father!
When it comes to the lead actors, Ram Charan and Mahesh Babu delivered huge blockbusters with Rangasthalam and Bharat Ane Nenu. Charan’s film became the all time biggest hit of the Telugu film industry after Baahubali. It stands at number three with Baahubali: The Beginning and The Conclusion standing in the first two positions. Directed by Sukumar, Rangasthalam collected more than Rs 125 crores and also Ram Charan’s performance was one of the best in recent times in Telugu cinema. Significantly, this film even overtook his father Chiranjeevi’s 150th film, Khaidi No.150.

Rana’s health rumours
Rana Daggubati’s health became another big topic in the industry. There are many reports about his health where some say he is suffering from high blood pressure and some reported that his kidneys were not okay. His father Suresh Babu spoke to the media and said that his son was completely healthy and nothing serious was wrong with him.

Pawan Kalyan’s film career ends with a disaster?
Actor Pawan Kalyan, has decided to concentrate more on politics and has no time to do films. The actor’s last film Agnyaathavasi released in the beginning of this year and bombed at the box office. Buzz is that the Trivkram’s directorial is going to be the last one for Pawan.

Sri Reddy issue shook Telugu film industry
An aspiring actress Sri Reddy became the centre of attraction for her act as well as for accusing many Tollywood actors. Denied membership in the Telugu Movie Artiste Association (MAA), the actress staged a protest after going half naked in front of the Telugu Film Chamber office building. Later, she accused many celebrities about the casting couch in Telugu cinema. She shocked the Telugu film industry which was forced to form a committee to look after women-related issues. The Sri Reddy issue became bigger when she flashed her middle finger at Pawan Kalyan and abused him. 

Suresh Babu’s son Abhiram was in the news
Still talking about Sri Reddy, the actress also accused Abhiram, the younger son of top producer D. Suresh Babu. She even released a photo of her with Abhiram and this landed Suresh Babu in a very awkward situation. There are rumours that Suresh Babu paid her to keep quiet! After this incident, Abhiram is not seen in Hyderabad.

Debutants galore!
Telugu cinema saw more than 50 debutant directors this year, which was a good sign, but only a few of them were successful. Popular writer Vakkantham Vamsi turned director with Naa Peru Surya that stars Allu Arjun, but the film was a disaster. Two women directors too made their debut, but both of them failed. One of them is Manjula Ghattamaneni, Mahesh Babu’s sister, who directed Manasuku Nachindi with Sundeep Kishan, but there were no takers. Sanjana Reddy, made her debut with Rajugadu, which was a box office dud. But there were a few successful debutant directors — Venky Kudumula (Chalo), Ajay Bhupathi (RX 100), Venty Atluri (Tholi Prema), Rahul Ravindran (Chi La Sow), Sashi Kiran Thikka (Goodachari), Rahul Sankrtityan (Taxiwala), Venkatesh Maha (C/o Kancharapalem).

MAA controversy, big actors failed to attract Telugus
The Movie Artiste Association (MAA) was in the news for its alleged misuse of  funds from a charity show.  An event was organized in the US with Megastar Chiranjeevi to raise funds for  MAA, but later it was reported that some of the members misused funds from that event. The president Sivaji Raja and secretary V.K. Naresh of the association accused each other and the issue became murky. Elders from the industry stepped in and later resolved the issue. Meanwhile, Chiranjeevi failed to attract NRI Telugus in US with his event and it became a big flop. After a few months, another big star Mahesh Babu too organised an event with the ticket pegged at a high price, and he too failed to attract crowds. The organisers were forced to cancel the event. 

A new star is born!
A new star was born by the name of Vijay Deverakonda. He became popular with his film Arjun Reddy  last year, and that gave him a certain image. But his other film Geetha Govindam, took him to the stratosphere because it was made with a budget of Rs 15 crores and collected nearly Rs 73 crores including the digital and satellite rights.