­­Middle aged stars

After doing serious roles in films like 'Guru', seasoned star Venkatesh bounced back into the reckoning with 'F2' and showed that 50-plus stars can give young heroes a run for their money.

Despite numerous flaws in the script, Venkatesh pulled it off with his comic-timing as hen-pecked husband. "Venkatesh has great flair for comedy," says director Vijaybhaskar,
 director Vijaybhaskar, 

who made hit movies like 'Nuvvu Naaku Nachavu' and 'Malliswari'.

"Venky connects faster to comedy scenes and gets into the skin of the character with ease. Comedy has been his forte. In fact, most of his comedy-centric movies have struck a chord with the masses," he adds.

Following his footsteps, his colleague and handsome actor Nagarjuna has also returned to comedy with 'Manmadhudu 2' to revive his winning habit. "Nagarjuna's Manmadhudu' was kind of a landmark movie in his career because Nagarjuna mostly did lover boy or action roles at that time.

It was a different offering from him in 2002. Now again he is bound to tickle the laughing bones with his sharp one-liners and sarcastic comments in its sequel as well. It has enough potential to strike a chord," says director Srinivas Reddy.

Actually, comedy movies have lost their sheen with a series of duds like 'Ungaralla Rambabu,' 'Silly Fellows' last year. Forcing comedian-turned-heroes like Sunil and Allari Naresh to take up 'character' roles to stay afloat since their brand of slapstick comedies have gone out of business.

Similarly, another middle-aged star Ravi Teja, is doing a sci-fi thriller 'Disco Raja', after his laugh-riot 'Amar Akbar Antony' bombed at the box office. "Ravi Teja is a master in comedy and showcased his comic-timing in blockbusters like 'Venky,' 'Dubai Seenu' and 'Kick' but now he has cut down on it.

"Ravi Teja has realized that new-age Telugu audience are demanding novelty even in comedy movies and awaiting the right script. Similarly, Sunil and Allari Naresh also had their share of hits like 'Maryadaramanna' and 'Sudigadu' respectively.

But now, scouting for fun-centric scripts to re-start their careers as heroes," adds director Devi Prasad.

Until then, the responsibility of keeping comedy movies afloat, lies in the hands of seasoned stars than young heroes. "Dil Raju is planning to make 'F3' to mint gold at the box office and Venkatesh will leave audience in splits once again," concludes Vijaybhaskar.