Tollywood History & Unknown Facts 2021

Tollywood History : Telugu Cinema also popularly known as Tollywood is one of the popular segment of the Indian Cinema. Now the whole world is looking at the Tollywood Cinema because of the blockbuster movie Bahubali series.

Now many movies and wonderful actors are coming up with their wonderful content and presenting it on screen and getting huge appreciation as well. Regardless of this, Tollywood has a wonderful history. So let’s know about that in detail.

The Beginning

The Beginning of the Tollywood happened in 1909 with the film maker Raghupathi venkaiah who produced short films and travelled to different places in Asia to promote the work. In 1921, Raghupathi venkaiah produced a silent film which is called Bhishma Pratigna. Even today Raghupathi Venkaiah is called father of the Telugu Cinema.

The first big break came when East Indian Film Company produced its first Indian Film Savitri in Telugu in 1933. The film was completely based on a stage play by Mylavaram bala Bharathi Samajam. The film was shot with a budget of 1 Million Rupees in Calcutta. Savitri movie received an diploma at the 2^nd Venice international film festival.

There are many great movies like Pathala Bhairavi(1951), Mayabazar(1957), Malliswari(1951), Devadasu(1953), Nartanasala(1963), Maro Charithra(1978), Maa Bhoomi(1979), Sankarabharanam(1980), Sagara Sangamam(1983), and Siva(1989). These movies are considered as the classics and greatest Indian Films of all time.

The first Telugu Film with audible dialogue was Bhakta Prahlada which was produced by H.M.Reddy. This is the first break and many movies on mythology and religious movies. After the commercial success of Lava Kusa, The movies focused on society problems and social themes

The Golden Era

But the Tollywood raised in ranks when the Golden Age happened. The Malliswari is the first Telugu Cinema which had a public release with Chinese subtitles at Beijing. The Movie was directed by B.N.Reddy and it received the Dada Saheb Phalke Award.

Film makers like K.V.Reddy, B. Vittalachary and Kodi Ramakrishna have got new techniques into their movies and KV Reddy’s Mayabazar is still watched by many people and that movie is considered as the Greatest Indian Film of all time. Actors like N.T.Rama Rao, Akkineni Nagasweara Rao, Bhanumathi, Savithri and others have ruled the golden era with their different roles and wonderful performances. Actors like Relangi, and Ramana Reddy were comedians during this era.

Actors like N.T.Rama Rao, S.V.Ranga Rao, Jaggaya, Kanta Rao, Bhanumathi, Anjali Devi, Suryakantam, Savitri, Krishnam Raju, Sobhan Babu received Rashtrapathi Awards for best performances in leading roles.

Also Check :- Top Tollywood Singers 2021

Legendary Actor Krishna has brought new types of movies like Goodachaari and other spy thrillers have received wonderful response as well. The equal credit goes to the actresses as well who have done their work so marvelously and their dedication to their roles is quite immense and they looked absolutely beautiful on the screen.

Moola narayana Swamy and B.N. Reddy have founded Vijaya vauhini Studios in 1948 in Chennai. L.V.Prasad started Prasad Studios in 1956 in Chennai. After that the Telugu Film Industry shifted its base from Chennai To Hyderabad in the early 1990s, Then the Late Actor Akkineni Nagaswera Rao relocated to Hyderabad and has developed Annapurna Studios.

After the Golden era, Classical Movies like Bapu’s directorial Sakshi and Sita kalyanam got huge acclamation internationally. K. Vishwanath took the movies to another level with his movies like Sankarabharanam, Sagara Sangammam and other wonderful movies. Even today K.Vishwanath is considered as one of the best directors of the Tollywood Industry.

Movies directed by K. Raghavendra Rao like Annamayya, Ramadasu, Shiridi Sai Baba, and Jagadeka Veerudu Athi Loka got huge response.

The New Tollywood Era

This is till the Golden Era ran and the new tollywood has begun with mass movies. Like Ram Gopal Varma brought the complete change in the approach of the movies with the movie Siva. This movie is an absolute cult in the Tollywood Industry. Siva Movie attracted the Young audience and the huge success of the movie encouraged many young talent to get into the movies. Even Film Makers got out of old genres and introduced new themes and experimental movies.

Singeetam Srinivasa Rao introduced the science fiction movie to the Tollywood with the movie Aditya 369. The movie is an edge of an seat thriller and characters are wonderfully portrayed by the lead actors. In Tollywood History he is a legend director.

This era was mostly ruled by Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Venkatesh and Balakrishna. Later many young actors and the future generations came into the industry and show cased their talent in the movies.

Many other actors like Akkineni Nagarjuna, Sharada, Archana, Vijayashanthi, Rohini, Keerthy Suresh, and P.L. Narayana have won the National Film Awards for best performances in acting.

Movies like Athadu, Bommarilu, Pokiri, Anaganaga O Dheerudu are the movies which got worldwide acclamation in the beginning. The movie Anaganaga O Dheerdu was produced by Walt Disney Pictures. Then the movie Mahesh babu’s Dookudu has set a box office record globally.

Actors like Pawan kalyan who has a lot of fan following is known for his unique style and mannerism. Mahesh Babu is known for style and choice of movies and experimenting with new types of movies. The Young Talent like Ram Charan, Allu Arjun, Jr. NTR, Prabhas are the all-rounder’s in the industry.

They can dance, sing, and perform wonderfully in their movies. Now almost all the PAN India movies are happening with this heroes. Because the tollywood is getting huge impressions on the World Cinema. Actors from different industries are coming to Tollywood Industry and working here as well.

Now there is no barrier between the languages as well. Almost all the movies in our Tollywood Industry are dubbed into several different languages like Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada as well. The popular movie Baahubali was even dubbed into Chinese as well.  

Directors like S.S.Rajamouli, Trivikram Srinivas, Krish Jagarlamudi and others have brought different genres and themes into the industry and they are  quite successful even now. But it is Chiranjeevi who is considered as the man who changed the face of Indian Cinema. The Comedian Brahmandam holds the Guinness World Record for acting in the most films in the same language.

Singers like S.P.Balasubrahmanyam, P.Susheela, S.Janaki are considered as the legends in Tollywood Industry. K.S.Chitra is one of the best female playback singer and she has received highest Nandi Awards in that category. Music Directors like M.M. Keeravani, Raj Koti, R.P.Patnaik are the ones who brought more grace into the music.

Even though we have seen some wonderful Visual Effects in the movie Mayabazaar, But the development of this Visual Effects was brought by Late Director Kodi Ramakrishna.

In his movies like Amoru Thalli, Anji, Arundathi. The Visual effects are absolutely top notch. Even the director has received Nandi Awards for this. But later it was S.S.Rajamouli who has shown the Visual magic with the movie Baahubali 1 and 2.

Awards in Tollywood Industry

Our Tollywood Industry has many awards which come under different sections and they are:

Nandi Awards, Raghupathi Venkaiah Awards, NTR National Awards, B.N. Reddy National Awards, S.V.Ranga Rao Award, Akkineni Award and Nagi Reddy Chakrapani National Award. All these are awards fall under State Awards. The other major film awards included are FilmFare Awards South, IIFA Utasavam, SIIMA Awards.

Tollywood Movies and actors have won many famous awards as well. Here are the awards won by the movies and actors.

Famous Awards Won By Tollywood Movies and Actors

Future Of Tollywood

Now the Telugu Cinema Industry’s legacy is carried by many wonderful actors and directors who are brining the best content to the audience in terms of storytelling. Now many movies in Tollywood are PAN India and many movies are getting worldwide appreciation in terms of Box Office Collection, Visual Arts, Actors Performances and other important factors.

The Young talent like Vijay Deverakonda who is known for playing Arjun Reddy has made his mark in the Industry. Even the actor Adivi Sesh is bringing different types of thrillers to the telugu audience. Movies like Goodachari, Kshanam have got huge appreciation as well. Tollywood has been creating records on Youtube as well. The latest album Ala Vaikuntapuramloo has millions of views and likes on Youtube.

The future is going to be wonderful for the Tollywood Cinema, Many directors and Young talents are coming up with different types of movies and bringing the best content to the audience. Now we can expect that many young people will bring their talent and add more grace to the Industry.

So this is all about Tollywood Cinema History and its legacy. We hope all the actors and directors carry this legacy forward and make the Tollywood Cinema one of the best movie industries. This is all about Tollywood History in 2021 so far.