In the quest for giving its audience both entertainment as well as a sense of wish fulfilment, mainstream Telugu films have seen the rise of a hero who packs more punches than punchlines. It’s a narrative shift that leaves many directors feeling nostalgic for the mass movies of the past that informed their imaginations. “Commercial filmmaking was always a business, but it was never as artificial and heartless as it is now,” said writer and cinephile Sankeertana Dantuluri.
What is a mass film?
Mass cinema is popular in all four southern industries, but of late, several Telugu viewers have complained that the writing in Telugu mass cinema has seen a downslide even as action set pieces become more sophisticated and elaborate.
Venkatesh Maha grew up in Gandhi Nagar, Vijayawada, an area that had around 20 theatres. Naturally, he was a fan of “mass” movies, including those dubbed to Telugu. “I watched a lot of films that had demi-god heroes,” said Maha, recalling how the dialogues often left a “deep impact” on him as a child. “I also watched a lot of dubbed-to-Telugu Rajinikanth films like Narasimha (1999), Muthu (1995), Arunachalam (1997) and so on. Kamal Haasan’s Thevar Magan (1992) is another Tamil film that I really liked,” said Maha.
Maha added that he may be less effusive in his praise of some of these films now, but back then, he felt heavily influenced by them and even now, he finds himself appreciating the ideas underlying the stories and characterisation. “Take Narasimha,” he said. “You walk away with the message that even if you lose everything in life, there is still hope. In Thevar Magan, when Nasser’s character is killed, his mother laments that all the breast milk she fed him has gone to waste. I was so moved by that scene though he is the villain.”
