B-town beckons Telugu filmmakers

With Hindi film 'Kabir Singh' crossing Rs 250 crore mark, new-age Telugu director Sandeep Vanga has arrived in B-town in a big way. He is flooded with offers from B-town filmmakers but he is holding his horses.

"Sandeep Vanga is the new sensation in B-town and made a mark with his hard-hitting love story. He made his hero aggressive and foul-mouthed but still retained the honesty of the protoganist, which made it one of the top grossers in 2019," says B-town director Rensil D Silva, who feels that new-age Telugu directors are game for variety.

"Sandeep, Deva Khatta and Prakash Kovelamudi are some of the directors who are trying to make a mark with their kind of movies, away from usual B-town stuff, that gives them an edge over their rivals,' adds Silva.

No doubt, these young directors are trying varied themes to stamp their mark in B-town. To begin with Deva Khatta is making a political potboiler 'Prasthanam' with biggies like Sanjay Dutt and Jackie Shroff since the Telugu version was a hit few years ago and was appreciated for the 'realistic depiction' of political families.

Whereas, Prakash Kovelamudi, is trying his hand in a thriller 'Judgemental Hai Kya'. Actor-turned-director Prakash Kovelamudi, son of veteran director K Raghavendra Rao, is looking to score a hit in B-town riding on Kangana Ranaut's popularity.

"Its high time, Prakash delivers a blockbuster in Hindi with 'Judgemental…' since his last few Telugu movies like 'Size Zero' tanked at the box office, so desperately needs a hit," says Hindi film distributor.

Earlier, Krish, despite his war of words with Kangana Ranaut for walking out of 'Manikarnika,' has also proved his mettle with 'Gabbar' and he is in talks to do a Hindi film with Akshay Kumar.

"Krish is a tasteful filmmaker and Sanjay Leela Bhansali has been supporting him for his talent. He will be back in B-town very soon," adds a source, close to the director.

Director YVS Choudury says that Telugu directors making waves in B-town is not a new phenomenon and it has been going on for the last three decades. "If K Bapayya delivered hits like 'Dildaaar' and 'Pataal Bhairavi', K Raghavendra Rao had his share of success with 'Himmatwala' and 'Tohfa', while K Viswanath carved a niche for himself with tasteful movies like 'Sargam' and 'Kaamchor'. Even directors like Dasari, Bapu to EVV Satyaranayana and Puri Jagannath tried their luck but always returned to Telugu movies," he adds.

However, Ram Gopal Varma, who changed the face of B-town mainstream films with movies like 'Satya,' 'Company' and 'Sarkar', he is one of the few Telugu directors to stay put in Bollywood.

"If there is one guy Bollywood will forever be indebted to Telugu cinema for, it will be Ram Gopal Varma. He didn't just strike gold, he struck a chord with the pan-India audience and proved that Hindi film viewers lap up hard-hitting and realistic movies, against usual peppy romances and mindless action movies."