With the state government celebrating 10 years of the formation of Telangana state today, young Telangana filmmakers are worried over identity crises. “We fought for a separate state to protect our culture and unique identity but Telangana cinema is not getting the right kind of support,’ says young director Venu Udugulla, who made the hard-hitting film ‘Virataparvam’ with Rana and Sai Pallavi. "We need subsidies and sops from the state government to dish out more thematic films reflecting Telangana people, their ideologies, culture and unique slang and take it across the world,” he adds.
No doubt, some Telangana centric films like ‘Balagam’, ‘George Reddy’, ‘Dorasani’, “Pellichoopulu’ also competed with mainstream Telugu films. “We need more such realistic films to shore up the prospects of Telangana cinema. We would like to enrich Telugu cinema with our dose of thematic movies on par with Malayalam and Marathi cinema,” he points out.
He urges the Telangana government to step in to support Telangana-based movies, like the Maharashtra government is doing. “Marathi cinema flourished because of the big support by the Maharashtra government which protected the identity of Marathi culture, nativity and dialect and also helped the industry withstand the onslaught of star-studded B-town movies. Now, Marathi movies are bagging national awards frequently,” he informs.
Earlier, Telangana cinema was marked by cult movies like ‘Maa Bhoomi',’ ‘Daasi’, ‘Komaram Bheem’ ‘Bathukamma’ and ‘Erra Sanyam.’ “We have a lot more festivals and cultural events yet to explore and we wish to bring them on screen. I request the state government to reduce location costs to make it affordable for Telangana filmmakers. There are many waterfalls, beautiful forests and picturesque valleys and it would promote tourism too,” he points out.
Warangal-born producer Raj Kandukuri who introduced the likes of Vijay Deverakonda and Tharun Bhascker to the celluloid world, says, “There is a lot of untapped talent in the state, so I request the government to consider some kind of subsidies for films made with a budget of Rs 1 crore or 1.5 crore. If we shoot in London, tourism authorities there refund 40% of our shooting expenses and Azerbaijan also offers a package. Our state government should think along similar lines to encourage producers to bet money on native talent,” he suggests.
However, young director Venu who delivered the biggest hit ‘Balagam’ which was set in Telangana region, says “I wanted to make a family drama loaded with emotions and it paid off. I just captured the culture and people’s dreams and aspirations as realistically as possible and it worked wonders. I have no regional bias," he cuts short.
