It is a role reversal of sorts in tinsel town of late. Silver screens seem to have taken a break from banking on macho men who defy gravity and fight hundreds of hoodlums and boogie with belles, mouth high-decibel dialogues and win over the evil.
Enough seems to be enough and it is time to prove women power in glamour villa. The pinups, who were hitherto limited to skin and cleavage show just to gratify the voyeuristic mindset of Telugu audience, are now in the centre stage and are calling the shots.
In an unprecedented development, Tollywood has placed stakes of over Rs 100 crore on female leads pushing behind superstars including Pawan Kalyan, Mahesh Babu, NTR Junior and Ram Charan. In the next few months, top female stars like Anushka Shetty, Charmme, Nayantara, Trisha, Anjali and Swathi are set to stride on silver screen to woo Telugu movie buffs in both AP and Telangana.
With a whopping Rs 45 crore on Rudramma Devi, Rs 15 crore on Jyothilaxmi, Rs 10 crore on Mantra 2, Rs 15 crore on Mayuri, Rs 10 crore on Nayaki, Rs 5 crore on Tripura and another Rs 5 crore on Chitrangadha, it seems that Telugu filmmakers have resolved to bet their money on glam girls, for a change.
Actually, male stars have a committed fan following and draw assured opening collections, whereas female stars are not assured crowd pullers. “It’s unfair to put male and female Telugu stars on the same scale. It is true that female stars don’t have established fan clubs on par with their male counterparts but still female stars have a silent fan following, who turn up at theatres as the films hit the screens and we are banking on that hidden following.” says producer C Kalyan, who is investing his money on Charmme in his next film Jyothilaxmi.
“I am also producing a bilingual film Mayuri with Nayantara and it is going to be a ghost story, with Nayan playing a ghost for the first time. It is bound to rock the box office since Nayan has a huge following,” adds Kalyan, who has lot at stake this summer.
Ace director Gunasekhar turned producer to make his magnum opus Rudramma Devi with Anushka in the lead. Anushka is playing a warrior queen of Kakatiya dynasty in the 13th century in the period movie. “Only Anuskha could carry such a larger-than-life role of a brave warrior queen and her magnetic screen presence is enough to pull crowds,” says Gunasekhar who is also banking on technology, since it is the first Indian film in 3D stereophonic like Hollywood film Avatar.
Producer Giridhar, who is making his first female-centric film Nayaki with Trisha in the lead, is banking on the successful genre - horror comedy. “It’s the first horror movie with Trisha and it already created a lot of buzz in the trade circles. She will be doing an author-backed role in this horror comedy and is expected to impress her fans and much beyond,” he adds.
The success of Geethanjali starring Anjali triggered a spate of horror comedies in T-town. In fact, Tripura, starring Swathi, is a sequel to Geethanjali. “Horror comedy is a safe bet since it attracts viewers from six years to 60 years,” says Kalyan. “It’s novelty in content that works at the box office. Even films like Arundhati, Anaganana Oka Roju and Manthra rocked the box office, so no surprises if Anuskha and Charmme set new records,” says director Chandra Siddharth.
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