T-town actors seem to be making a new fashion statement these days. With superstar Mahesh Babu slaying the lungi look in the latest poster from "Guntur Kaaram", it seems Tollywood heroes' lungi-clad avatars are here to stay.
Only recently, megastar Chiranjeevi looked stunning in a lungi in ‘Waltair Veerayya’, while Allu Arjun drew appreciation from across India as a red-sander smuggler wearing colorful lungis in ‘Pushpa’. Even other Telugu stars like Ram Charan Tej (Rangasthalam), Pawan Kalyan (Katamarayudu), Rana Daggubati (Nene Raju Nene Mantri) and Nani (Dasara), went for a costume image make-over, a breakaway from their usual urban and stylish avatars, to fit into their roles.
“Surely, lungi-clad avatars are the new fashion statement of Telugu superstars. Earlier, Tamil actors would commonly don this outfit,” says ace producer Ravi Shankar Yellamanchilli, who celebrated 200 days of ‘Waltair Veerayya’ recently. “Chiranjeevi garu looked down-to-earth and came close resembling a lower-middle class guy in his lungi-clad avatar in 'Waltair Veerayya'. It had an instant connect with the masses since that's the go-to daily attire for most people in the rural south to this day,” he adds.
“Ram Charan wore the common man's outfit throughout our rural drama 'Rangasthalam, while Allu Arjun also was draped in colourful lungis in a few scenes of our other film—'Pushpa'. Both looked stylish in their new look. Besides, Mahesh Babu also appeared briefly in a lungi, in our film ‘Srimanthudu’ and received appreciation. And there's no doubt about mana actors' traditional outfits grabbing the attention of fans and general audience alike,” informs Ravi Shankar, who says that lungis have been the traditional attire for many decades in the Telugu states.
“Actually, Chiranjeevi garu and Ram Charan slip into specially-designed lungis while they move into their cars after shooting, so it is close to our real-life too,” points out Ravi Shankar
Talking about hotshot Rana’s makeover in "Nene Raju Nene Mantri,” director Teja says, “Rana wore the old-fashioned outfit since the role demanded such an appearance. Rana wanted to get into the skin of the character of a politician and accordingly went in for a complete makeover, far away from his urban and suave attires. Honestly, roles and outfits have to go hand-in-hand to impress the viewers in varied roles. More actors are going to join this bandwagon, since many stories with rural backdrops are in the making now.This trend also negates the perception that Telugu stars are reluctant to break away from their established trendy image as it is quite apparent now,” he concludes.
