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Tollywood on Thriller Spree!


The recently released horror-thriller had drawn the attention of the audience and got the appreciation of the critics with its narrative style, gripping screen-play and the performances of the artistes. As the story is very routine and had the shades of Hollywood flick, Paranormal Activity, the movie could able to carry out the emotional factor and made the audience to sit on the edge of the seat and watch it upto the end title. So, the “Thriller Genre” stood on the hot-seat now as the debatable topic!

Primarily, Telugu film world is the producer of second highest number of films in the country and had its own special significance with different stories and plots. But, the common element of all these films, irrespective of “genre” is entertainment only! The other movies with an experimental nature had bite the dust and gone into the cans without any trace. So, the movies with novel ideas in Tollywood have become a rare phenomenon now. In spite of these box-office bottlenecks, some of the directors have tried their mettle in producing different sort of movies like thrillers, leaving all the reservations in respect of commercial viability!

Advent of RGV

Ram Gopal Varma, the visionary trend-setter of Tollywood, made thrillers and tried to get the acceptance from the audience. He made them with his creative craftsmanship and became a reason to make them as the most admirable movies for all sections of people! His new style of movie making, the themes and the technical inputs have pulled the audience to the theatres. He succeeded in creating a star status to and people's approval for the thrillers on par with family entertainers! His Kshana Kshanam, had succeeded in weaving a magic to give a classic touch to this genre cinema. Ramu's another movie, Anaganaga Oka Roju with JD Chakravarthi and Urmila Matondkar in the lead roles, had also dragged the public, especially youth to the cinema halls.

Further, he made horror thrillers like Raatri, Deyyam, Marri Chettu with low-budgets and succeeded in establishing the Thriller Genre to stay on Tollywood !

Ganga Raju's Mark:

Here, we cannot ignore the role and contribution of Gunnam Ganga Raju in making the thrillers as the different cinema on Telugu screen! He is the master-brain behind the thrillers of great applause like Aithe and Anukokunda Oka Roju! These Chandrashekhar Yeleti directed flicks have carved their own niche on Telugu cinema with a novel screenplay run! His another movie, Okkadunnadu, which is a Gopichand starrer is also had all the qualities of a thriller!

Another director, Shekhar Suri, had made a movie named A Film by Arvind and tasted instant success. This Rajiv Kanakala starrer was appreciated by the critics and the audience alike. But The Rajiv Kanakala-Allari Naresh's movie Visakha Express, 3 too attracted the audience with its posters, but failed to maintain it!

Heroine-Oriented Thrillers:

The other important milestone in the journey of Thriller films in Tollywood is Female characters as the leading protagonists! Thanks to the stupendous success of Mantra, a series of films of this Genre had followed like an ant-path!. The Charmi starrer has produced with a meager budget of Rs.2.5 crores but the movie has ran into packed houses, making it a hit! Charmi had become the poster-girl for Thriller films followed with Manorama, Kavya’’s Diary, Nagaram Nidra Potunna Vela et al. The other films like Diary, Mangala too joined the band-wagon.

Ravi Babu's Take:

Now the thriller galore is taken forward with Allari Ravi Babu! His movie with Bhoomika in the lead, Anasuya, tasted success at Box-office! His other movie, Amaravathi, with Taraka Ratna as the antagonist, too got the attention. The recent Avunu too added to the list of his films with Thriller story line!

Finally, it is stated by some of the Film Pundits that, most of these Thriller-Genre movies were become flops! Very few of them only have done well at box-office. For that matter, here, it is noteworthy that, even the so-called minimum guarantee entertainers too bombed at the box-office in spite of all the hype and hoopla!

So, The Thriller factor is ones again proved the fact that, the movies which have been crafted with good screenplay, plot and star-cast interwoven with an interesting scenic order only taste the success!

by Mamidi Harikrishna (harikrishnam at