With pretty actress Kajal Aggarwal failing to draw big openings for her latest release ‘Satyabhama’ and even young diva Payal Rajput’s film ‘Rakshana’ failing to set box on fire, it looks like glam divas crowd pulling prowess is waning in Tollywood. Just recently, Anjali played a protagonist in her latest release 'Geetanjali Malli Vachindii' but it bombed at the box office. “I don’t want to take names but few actresses are unable to pull in crowds,” says producer-distributor Sunil Narang who claims that investigative cop stories have no novelty. “Honestly, we are unable to match up with OTT content in cop stories or investigative thrillers since they are quite novel and gripping too,” he adds. He claims that Telugu actors have a lot of talent but there is a dearth of stories. “I wish young filmmakers would come up with path-breaking stories like in Malayalam or Tamil films to overcome the threat of OTTs’ he points out.
However, ace producer Vishnu Induri who made the female-centric movie ‘Thailiaivi’ with Kangana Ranaut, begs to differ. “I don’t think we should treat OTTs as a threat because they have become part of our filmmaking business and turned an additional revenue source for Telugu films,” he says and adds, “And also I am don’t have gender bias and I dislike bifurcating films as female or male centric movies ,” he adds. He claims that scripts determine the casting more than the other way round. “If the story is good enough, audience would turn up theatres otherwise it doesn’t work, that’s it,” On Payal Rajput’s ‘Rakshana’ failing to set cash registers ringing, he adds, “Her earlier film ‘Mangalavaram’ worked at the box office so it is just the story to be blamed,’he reasons.
Despite lukewarm response for lady-oriented movies, young divas like Anupama Parameswaran are doing female centric film ‘Paradha, while young sensation Rashmika Mandana is doing her maiden female-centric film ‘The Girlfriend’ to give a boost to lady-oriented films. “Every actress likes to carry a film on her shoulders and when they get an opportunity, they are game for it,” says director Hemanth Madhukar, who made the woman-centric film 'Nishabdam' with Anushka Shetty in the lead. "Even Samantha and Keerthy Suresh tasted success as crowd pullers with 'Yashoda' and 'Mahanati' respectively," he adds.After working with superstars, even Tamannaah and Kajal are moving towards lady-oriented films to draw crowds at theatres on the strength of their names. "Probably they want to do women-centric films amidst their routine roles in star-studded movies," says producer Lagadapati Sridhar, who claims that glam divas would be part of big ticket entertainers. “They could be mixing up varied roles since female-centric scripts beckon them once in a while ,” he points out.
