Telugu cinema: N.T. Rama Rao and After
by S.V. Srinivas
The Telugu film industry is the largest in India after Hindi. Since 1981, an average of just over 160 films have been produced annually, of which anywhere between a third to half have been dubbed into Telugu, mostly from other south Indian cinemas. Andhra Pradesh, where Telugu is spoken, has the highest number of cinema halls in the country. The total number rose from 1,904 in 1981 to 3,080 in 1995 but declined to 2,763 in 2000 [1]. In the 1980s and 1990s, the industry expanded rapidly and even overtook Hindi in number of productions on occasion. The establishment of mass circulated film magazines from the late 1970s and a phenomenal growth in film star fan clubs, are indications of an increased lower class audience of cinema in this period.New studios and production facilities were established in Hyderabad including Ramanaidu Studios and Ramoji Film City. The latter, owned by Ramoji Rao, who also owns newspapers and television channels, is the largest film studio in India. In the 1990s, the industry, largely based in Chennai (formerly Madras), was finally relocated to Hyderabad after years of public censure and government subsidies.
Like neighbouring Tamilnadu and Karnataka, cinema in Andhra Pradesh has a close and complex relationship with the politics of linguistic identity and nationalism. The industry's most popular star, Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (NTR), established the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 1982 with the avowed aim of protecting the self-respect of the Telugus. In 1983 he became the state's first non-Congress Chief Minister. His regime, like that of his counterpart in Tamilnadu, M.G. Ramachandran (MGR), was characterised by populism, increasing levels of state repression, as well as violence against lower castes by the upper caste landed elite. Although he himself was expelled from the party in 1995 and died in 1996, the TDP continues to dominate the state's politics. In the wake of NTR's success, a number of stars joined political parties and were elected to the state assembly as well as the parliament.
NTR introduced a new regime of entertainment tax in 1984, known as the 'slab system' that imposed a flat tax regardless of number of tickets sold. As a result, films running to packed houses were taxed less than before. On the other hand, even 50 per cent occupancy could actually result in a loss for distributors who had to pay steep theatre rentals. The indirect rewarding of 'full house' collections contributed to saturation release of new films. Coupled with other factors including the growth of fans' associations, the slab system encouraged producers, who in any case often indulged in the pre-sale of films, to make big budget star vehicles. Production costs increased manifold in the 1980s and 1990s due to the rising cost of stars and technicians, huge investments in sets, music, fights and dances. The prohibitive cost of film distribution rights resulted in the fragmentation of the distribution network. Even in the 1970s, a single distribution company such as Navayuga Films or Poorna Pictures acquired the rights for all territories. Over the last two decades, distribution territories have decreased in size and increased to a total of ten, with different distributors or 'buyers' controlling each separate territory. The positive fallout of the reorganisation of distribution is the establishment of distribution offices in every district, leading to increasing investments in the sector and better exploitation of films.
Stars and Genres
While older stars such as NTR, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Krishna and Sobhan Babu continued to act in films, the 1980s witnessed the rise to prominence of new stars - Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna, Mohan Babu, Venkatesh and Nagarjuna - who were to dominate the industry in the 1990s. The new stars danced and fought better on screen and made possible huge investments in dance and action.
NTR's star vehicles in the early 1980s combined vigilantism and nostalgia for the feudal order to spawn a supra-generic entity called 'mass film'. The mass film mobilises the masses via the star-protagonist against the enemies of state and society [2]. The mass film was the site of contradictory tendencies. On the one hand, films such as Khaidi (A. Kodandarami Reddy/Samyuktha Movies, 1983) launched a populist critique by way of vigilante actions against figures representing feudal authority. On the other, the mass film also included anti-urban/ruralist melodramas, for instance Mangammagari Manavadu (Kodi Ramakrishna/Bhargav Arts, 1984), which resulted in the nostalgic reconstruction of benevolent feudalism in the 1990s in films such asPeda Rayudu (Raviraja Pinisetty/Shri Lakshmi Prasanna Pictures, 1995).
The career of Chiranjeevi, the biggest star after NTR, marks a shift that has parallels in Tamil cinema as well. Chiranjeevi, like NTR before him, often played lower class characters. However, the uniqueness of the star-protagonist was no longer explained in terms of his superior origin - in Khaidi, the hero is the son of a peasant. During NTR's time, but more so after him, popular cinema was trying to grapple with the absent feudal patriarch who till the early 1980s was the socio-political as well as narrative pivot for cinema. In NTR's later films like Kondaveeti Simham (K. Raghavendra Rao/Roja Movies, 1981) the passing of the patriarch played by NTR, was tragic but the consolation came in the form of the inheritance of the mantle by his son, also played by him. The feudal order, represented by old wealth, was often presented as an obscene anti-modern excess that had to destroyed in Chiranjeevi's Khaidi, Abhilasha (A. Kodandarami Reddy/Creative Commercials, 1983) and Challenge (A. Kodandarami Reddy/Creative Commercials, 1984). Cruel feudal figures, dead/missing fathers and orphaned heroes are signs of a lack that the social as represented in cinema had to come to terms with. Reckoning with the missing centre of authority was often presented as a challenge to the hero's masculinity. The late 80s presented domineering female characters (heroines, their mothers) as threats to the social order. The lower class hero had to deploy his masculinity to put them in their (inferior) place to restore normalcy/patriarchal authority. Class antagonisms are thus played out and resolved within the domestic sphere in Donga Mogudu (A. Kodandarami Reddy/Maheshwari Movies, 1987), Attaku Yamudu Ammayiki Mogudu (A. Kodandarami Reddy/Geeta Arts, 1989) and Gharana Mogudu (K. Raghavendra Rao/Devi Film Productions, 1992). In fact, from the late 1980s, a spate of 'mother-in-law films' was made featuring all major stars, for example Venkatesh's Bobbili Raja (B. Gopal/Suresh Productions, 1990). This trend continued till the Chiranjeevi starrer Alluda Majaaka (E.V.V. Satyanarayana/Devi Film Productions, 1995) led to huge public protests.
Vigilantism in the 1980s had an interesting variant featuring female stars in lead roles. The first of these to win box office success was Pratighatana (T. Krishna/Usha Kiron Movies, 1985). In the early 1990s, there was a full-fledged female vigilante film drawing on the mass film's themes as well as modes of representing (male) stars. Mostly starring Vijayashanthi, the leading actress of the period, the female vigilante film rendered the male protagonist redundant. This was because the 'Lady super star' took the side of the masses, fought crime and did her own stunts too. Important films of the genre include Kartavyam (A. Mohan Gandhi/Surya Movies, 1990), Street Fighter (B. Gopal/Sumanth Productions, 1995) and Police Lockup (Kodi Ramakrishna/Sumanth Arts, 1993). Unlike the more familiar vigilante films with female leads, the Vijayashanthi vehicles often did away with the revenge motive and focussed on the protagonist's duty as a representative of the state.
The mass film in the 1980s was complemented by what is locally known as the 'class film'. If the mass film is identifiable by its lower class addressee, huge budgets, star cast, populist politics and of course poor taste, the class film is presumably meant for the middle class audience, has an avowed pedagogic mission and is recognisably superior in aesthetic terms. Its art-house aesthetic quality is often indexed by the use of a popular version of south Indian classical music and dance. Tracing its origins to Shankarabharanam (K. Vishwanath/Poornodaya Art Creations, 1979), which lamented the erosion of Brahminical high culture and values, the 'class film' developed alongside the 1980s mass film, as the epitome of 'good' cinema. The 'class film' is distinct from other middle class genres in that it occupies a moral high ground that has only on occasion been available to popular cinema. Throughout the 1980s the 'class film' exerted enough moral pressure on directors and stars to elicit their support. Nageswara Rao and the prolific director of the 1980s, Dasari Narayana Rao, came together in Megha Sandesam (Taraka Prabhu Films, 1982), a film about the relationship between a famous poet and a courtesan. K. Vishwanath, the director whose name is synonymous with the 'class cinema', made films with relative newcomers as well as major stars. A good example is Sagara Sangamam (Poornodaya Movie Creations, 1983) featuring Kamal Haasan and Swayamkrushi (Poornadaya Movie Creations, 1987) starring Chiranjeevi. Chiranjeevi went on to act in the 'class film' Rudraveena (K. Balachander/Anjana Art Productions, 1988), produced by a family-owned company. The 'class film' addressed not only the middle class audience that was increasingly alienated by the mass film, but also the state which often enough, responded with awards that were instituted to promote the film industry.
Other Genres
New Indian Cinema, though forgotten now, generated considerable critical discussion in its own time. For the most part, New Cinema in Telugu is associated with films made in Telugu by non-local filmmakers who often did not speak Telugu. Maabhoomi (Gautam Ghosh/Chaitanya Chitra, 1979) alone was well received in Andhra Pradesh. Telugu filmmakers identified with New Cinema are B. Narsinga Rao (Rangula Kala, 1983; Daasi, 1988) and Jatla Venkataswamy Naidu (Prathyusha, Swairi Films, 1979). The actual impact of New Cinema was broader than the work of these directors. From the late 1970s, Telugu films like Pranam Khareedu (K. Vasu/Shri Annpurna Cine Enterterprises, 1978) gestured towards the political realism of New Cinema. The genre known as the red film, typified by Yuvatharam Kadhilindi (Dhavala Satyam/Navataram Pictures, 1980), which by the late 1980s became the Naxalite film, is a direct consequence of the hybridisation of the mass film with the films of Gautam Ghosh, Shyam Benegal and Narsinga Rao. The figure most closely associated with the Naxalite [3] film, a political genre that has no parallels outside Telugu cinema, is the actor-director-producer R. Narayanamurthy. His hit film Erra Sainyam (1994) prompted the industry to make slicker variants of the genre. One such film Osey Ramulamma (Dasari Narayana Rao/Dasari Filim University, 1997) featuring Vijayashanthi, is among the most successful films of the 1990s.
During the 1980s and 1990s, comedy became a distinct genre. Associated with stars like Rajendra Prasad and Naresh and a number of comedians, including Brahmanandam, Ali, Babu Mohan and Mallikarjuna Rao who also featured in the 'comedy track' of mass films, this low budget genre launched female stars like Rambha and Aamani and directors like E.V.V. Satyanarayana and S.V. Krishna Reddy. Typically, there was cross-dressing, (Chirtam Bhalare Vichitram, 1991; Madam, 1994), reversal of gender roles (Jambalakidipamba, 1992; Mr. Pellam, 1993) and increased visibility of lower castes (Ladies' Tailor, 1986).These films had simple plots that broadly dealt with problems faced by youth due to factors such as unemployment, conservative parents or unresponsive lovers.
Crisis and Revival
By the late 1980s, the films of Ram Gopal Varma and Mani Rathnam (whose films had all been dubbed from Tamil, with the exception of Geetanjali, 1989) had cleared a middle ground where Hollywood style realism became the hallmark of a new middle class aesthetic that was disengaged from the oppressive pedagogic mandate of the 'class film'. The neat division between the mass and 'class film' and the audiences they presumably catered to, came under severe strain in the mid 1990s with the emergence of a popular cinema that was at once marked by a superior technical and aesthetic quality and was also successful at the box-office. Both mass and 'class films' were in crisis.
The two key films in this regard are Shiva (Ram Gopal Varma/Annapurna Cine Studios, 1989) and Geetanjali, both featuring Nagarjuna. The films dealt with common subjects (urban criminal gangs and romance respectively), but were so distinctive in the handling of their material that regular Telugu films looked crude in comparison. In the 1990s, there was an identifiable trend. This was characterised by technical innovation and experiments in genre attributed to the Rathnam-Varma 'school' and the work of the Tamil director Shankar.
The failure of expensive mass films like Matho Pettukokku (A. Kodandarami Reddy/Bhargav Arts, 1995) and Big Boss (Vijay Bapineedu/Shyam Prasad Arts, 1995) coincided with this trend and a host of other developments:the closure of cinema halls at an alarming rate due to rising maintenance costs and declining audiences, the success of dubbed Tamil films such as Premikoodu (Shankar/Sri Surya Movies, 1994), Basha (Suresh Krishna/Ramalayam, 1996), Prema Desam (Kadir/J.R.S. Combines, 1996) and Bharateeyudu (Shankar/Sri Surya Movies, 1996) and the increased market for Hollywood and Hong Kong productions due to dubbing into Telugu.
In the early 1990s, the mass film increasingly gestured towards the struggles of empowerment of the lower class population. At times it represented these struggles with a surprising degree of sympathy, notably in Mutha Mestri (A. Kodandarami Reddy/Kamakshi Devi Kamal Combines, 1992). By the mid 1990s, however, the political mandate of the mass film, was taken over by the Naxalite film and films advocating an aggressive upper caste nationalism and a hard state, such as Roja (Mani Rathnam/Kavitalaya, 1992) and Bharateeyudu. Complicating the picture further, was the revival of the devotional film, now aided by computer special effects. Ammoru (Kodi Ramakrishna/M.S. Arts, 1995) was so successful that the B-grade genre of the 1970s and 1980s was in direct competition with star vehicles.
The industry responded by cultivating middle class audiences that, presumably alienated by the mass film, had abandoned cinema for cable television. Venkatesh was the first to make a decisive move away from the mass film. Chiranjeevi followed much later with Hitler (Muthyala Subbaiah/M.L. Art Movies, 1997). Middle class audiences seemed to be a safe bet in view of the success of the Hindi film Hum Aapke Hain Koun...! (Sooraj Barjatya/Rajshri Prod., 1994) which inspired Telugu equivalents such as Pelli Sandadi (K. Raghavendra Rao/Raghavendra Movie Corp., 1996).
Fears of cultural invasion due to increasing availability of and exposure to global cultural products resulted in renewed investment in nativity, an industry term meaning 'local colour'. In earlier decades, nativity referred to representations of 'Telugu-ness' on screen and from the 1970s was often associated with the work of K. Vishwanath and Bapu (Andala Ramudu (1973)). By now, nativity stood for nostalgic reconstruction of the local whose sole mark of authenticity lay in its supposed distinctness from western culture. Pelli Sandadi, Mavichiguru (S.V. Krishna Reddy/Chandrakiran Movies, 1996) and Sindhooram (Krishna Vamsy/Andhra Talkies, 1997) gave new meanings to nativity.
The last few years have not been bad for the industry. The mass film made a major comeback with the success of Samarasimha Reddy (B. Gopal/Satyanarayanamma Productions, 1999). Despite complaints of dubbed soft porn films taking over the market, there has been a spurt in film production, largely due the success of low and medium budget yuppie romances that came in the wake of Chitram (Teja/Usha Kiron Movies, 1999) and Nuvve Kaavali (Vijay Bhaskar/Usha Kiron Movies, 2000). The new romance set in globalised spaces (the college itself being one such space), is virtually without plot and avoids any overt engagement with politics.
S.V. Srinivas is a fellow at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore. He has published articles on Telugu cinema in Journal of Arts and Ideas, Journal of the Moving Image, Economic and Political Weekly and Framework.
[1] Figures culled from Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber of Commerce publications, Indian Talkie Golden Jubilee Celebration Souvenir (Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber of Commerce, 1981), Andhra Pradesh Film Diary (Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber of Commerce, 1995) and Screen Weekly (4 August 2000).
[2] M. Madhava Prasad's analysis of the 'aesthetic of mobilisation' in Hindi cinema is useful for understanding the mass film as well. See the author's Ideology of the Hindi Film: A Historical Construction (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 138 - 159.
[3] Naxalite refers to ultra left groups that are factions of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). Naxalite groups have been active in Andhra Pradesh for over three decades now.
