New year brings good news

The new millennium has brought a measure of cheer to the Telugu film industry, with a fairly creditable success ratio — with 20 hits from 80-odd releases during the year 2000. Kalisundam Raa and Nuvve Kavaali stood out as the highest grossers of the year, while Annayya, Nuvvu Vasthavani, Jeyam Manadera, Kshemanga, Badri and Chala Bagundi qualified for the big hit tag. The notable factor of the year has been the boom of low budget films, following the success of Chitram and Bachelors. Currently more than 40 films with freshers are on the floors, and if a few of these become successful, 2001 may well see the release of 100 films. But compared to the last few years, fewer dubbed films were released this year, Except for Mani Ratnam’s Sakhi, Nagadevatha and the dubbed-from-English Samudrapu Dongalau, the rest failed to make an impact. The year also saw several debutants among directors, actors and actresses making their presence felt.

How the stars fared
NUMERO Uno, Chiranjeevi had just one release Annayya, and after a sensational opening, it ended up as another hit.

Venkatesh began the year with the phenomenal hit Kalisumdam Raa, which apart from grossing more than Rs 15 crore and winning the national award for the best regional film, fetched him the state best actor award. Venkatesh and his brother Suresh delivered another blockbuster, Jeyam Manadera.

2000 was Nagarjuna’s comeback year, and he delivered a hat trick of hits to end a 2-year drought. Nuvvu Vasthavani, Ninne Premistha and Azaad were hits, but the first was the biggest hit among them.

Mass-hero Balakrishna had a disaster in Vamsodarakudu and an average grosser in Gopinti Alludu.

Teen sensation Pavan Kalyan joined the big league with another massive hit Badri, which grossed more than Rs 12 crore, despite a mixed initial response.
Heartthrob Mahesh, the sensation of 1999, had two average hits Yuvaraju and Vamsi to his credit. But he has some promising films lined up for release this year, and his fans may well be expecting a sensational hit from them.

Baddie-turned-hero Srihari rose to dizzy heights with a hit hattrick last year, but in 2000, he had to be satisfied with the average grossers Sivaji and Ayodhya Ramaiyah. It remains to be seen whether the audience will accept him in an all-new avatar in Maa Ayana Sundaraya.

Dr Rajshekhar had to be content with average hits in the much-hyped Maa Annayya and Manasuna Maaraju and his attempt to regain his action hero image ended up in vain, with Okadu Chalu.

It was the best year for Srikanth, so far, since he had big hits like Chala Bagundi, Kshemanga Veli and Ninne Premistha to his credit. These helped him join the big league with Usha Kiron Movies’ 50th film coming up, 2001 appears equally promising.

Promising newcomer Venu has bounced back with a hit in Chirunavutho and has bagged 5 big offers.

Soundarya held on to her numero uno position with no competition in sight. Big hits like Anaiyya, Sardukupodam Randi, Jeyam Manadera and Ninne Premistha cemented her position. But the much-hyped art film 9 Months sank without a trace.

Tamil actress Simran who is considered a lucky mascot by Telugu filmmakers had a blockbuster in Kalisundam Raa and an average hit in Gopinti Alludu.
Vijaya Shanti’s attempt to shrug off her action image with Sri Srimati Satyabhama bombed while her action flick Vyjayanthi registered some collections.

Raasi had Shivaji while Asha Saini had Chala Bagundi and Sardukupodam Randi. Laaya came up with a spirited performance in Manoharam, which was declared an average success.

After Bachelors and College, Maanya became a sought-after actress for low-budget films with more than 5 films on floors. Though few Mumbai girls made their debut in small films none of hem eventually got noticed.

The banners
MEDIA baron Ramoji Rao seems to have discovered the success formula by raking in more than Rs 25 crore with two hits Chitram and Nuvve Kaavali and is planning to make atleast 10 films this year, most of them with talented debutants.

Doyen D Rama Naidu’s Suresh Productions has been riding the wave of success this year with Kalisundam Raa and Jeyam Manadera. He has made a few low-budget films to promote new talents, too.

Padmalaya who tasted success with their public issue had an average grosser in Vamsi. Other biggies who had hits this year were Trivikrama Rao (Badri), Burugupalli (Sardukupodam Randi), Aswini Dutt (Azaad), RB Chowdhury (Nuvvu Vasthavani and Ninne Premistha), Ramakrishna Studios (Gopinti Alludu), Editor Mohan (Kshemanga Veli) and Taranga (College).

The directors
TOP-RANKING director EVV Satyanarayana turned producer with Chala Bagundi and proved that his magic still works by delivering a big hit. His realistic film, Ammo Okato Thariku won him more of critical acclaim than commercial success. SV Krishna Reddy who opened the millennium with a disaster Kodandaramudu salvaged himself with a big hit Sardukupodam Randi. But he finished the year with two more disappointing films, Sri Satyabama and Sakutumba Saparivara Samethanga.

Director B Gopal, after the flop Ravanna delivered an average grosser Vamsi.
Vijayabhaskar of Swayamavaram fame re-affirmed his talent with the blockbuster Nuvve Kaavali.

Director Gunashekhar’s attempt to re-structure the commercial film format in Manoharam found few takers.

Among the debutants who made their mark this year, are Shinde (Ninne Premistha), Pratap (Nuvvu Vasthavani), Uday Shankar (Kalisundam Raa), Raja Vanam Reddy (Kshemanga), Puri Jaganath (Badri) and Teja (Chitram).