What’s Ailing the Telugu Mass Film?

Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari (1990), directed by K Raghavendra Rao, and starring Chiranjeevi and Sridevi, is among director Venkatesh Maha’s favourite mass Telugu films. The film is about a good samaritan who finds an apsara’s lost ring without which she cannot return to her heavenly abode. He takes it, without knowing what it is, and she seeks him out. “The debate in this film is about divinity and humanity. Even someone with divine attributes needs a human’s help in the world,” said Maha.

The hero in mainstream Telugu films has traditionally been larger than life, but unlike his predecessors, the contemporary hero has also become predictable. Take for example, Parasuram’s The Family Star (2024), in which the hero Govardhan (Vijay Deverakonda) is a middle class man with a large family. There are numerous conflicts thrown into the screenplay, from a loan shark to a villainous suitor for Govardhan’s love interest. However, every conflict ultimately has one resolution: Govardhan beating up those opposing him.

In the quest for giving its audience both entertainment as well as a sense of wish fulfilment, mainstream Telugu films have seen the rise of a hero who packs more punches than punchlines. It’s a narrative shift that leaves many directors feeling nostalgic for the mass movies of the past that informed their imaginations. “Commercial filmmaking was always a business, but it was never as artificial and heartless as it is now,” said writer and cinephile Sankeertana Varma.

What is a mass film?

Mass cinema is popular in all four southern industries, but of late, several Telugu viewers have complained that the writing in Telugu mass cinema has seen a downslide even as action set pieces become more sophisticated and elaborate.

Venkatesh Maha grew up in Gandhi Nagar, Vijayawada, an area that had around 20 theatres. Naturally, he was a fan of “mass” movies, including those dubbed to Telugu. “I watched a lot of films that had demi-god heroes,” said Maha, recalling how the dialogues often left a “deep impact” on him as a child. “I also watched a lot of dubbed-to-Telugu Rajinikanth films like Narasimha (1999), Muthu (1995), Arunachalam (1997) and so on. Kamal Haasan’s Thevar Magan (1992) is another Tamil film that I really liked,” said Maha.

Maha added that he may be less effusive in his praise of some of these films now, but back then, he felt heavily influenced by them and even now, he finds himself appreciating the ideas underlying the stories and characterisation. “Take Narasimha,” he said. “You walk away with the message that even if you lose everything in life, there is still hope. In Thevar Magan, when Nasser’s character is killed, his mother laments that all the breast milk she fed him has gone to waste. I was so moved by that scene though he is the villain.”

When defining the genre, Maha said, “In my definition, the mass film is larger-than-life and appeals to a vast section of the audience. It also leads to societal discussions, whether at a basic or deep level.”

The mass film can have many layers built into it. “Patriotic films have been common in Telugu cinema from its inception, but films like Adurthi Subba Rao’s Maro Prapancham (1970) or films by T Krishna are controlled and educated. They focus on illuminating what's wrong within the country rather than pointing fingers,” said Varma. “Faction-based cinema, where revenge and caste-based politics is the primary conflict, was also popular in the 2000s with Balakrishna taking the lion’s share. Indra (2002) and Jayam Manadera (2000) are some films that starred other top heroes of that time. Mirchi (2013) and Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava (2018) are recent films that tried to bring back the trend.”

Director Srikanth Odela who made his debut with a mass film, Dasara (2023), concurred with Maha about the importance of a mass film’s emotional core. “More than punch dialogues, it is the emotional arc of the hero that matters. You have to build the sequence to the point when the hero unleashes his rage,” said Odela. “I love SS Rajamouli’s films and aspire to follow in his footsteps.”

Contrary to the opinions of many cinephiles, filmmakers like Odela will have you know that writing a mass film is challenging, particularly for those who aspire to make mass movies that are also good in terms of their quality. Speaking about Dasara, starring Nani and Keerthy Suresh, Odela said, “I feel that I missed out on delivering an entirely commercial film. After the release, many people told me that they thought the making was very good but that the writing was a bit weak.” In hindsight, he wonders whether he focused too much on the love story between Dharani (Nani) and Vennela (Keerthy Suresh), and not enough on the conflict between Dharani and Chinna Nambi (Shine Tom Chacko), the villain. “In retrospect, I feel I should have added a few more scenes between the hero and the villain to strengthen the character of the latter and show the problem between them,” said Odela.

‘Massy’ and ‘Classy’

Rooting these films has been a key ingredient in making mass films feel relatable to audiences. Odela worked as an assistant director with Sukumar, who made blockbuster mass films like Rangasthalam (2018) and Pushpa: The Rise (2021). Odela was particular that Dasara be rooted in Telangana culture, from the lyrics in the songs to the rituals and festivals shown in the film. “For me, it was moments like the crow coming to eat the food during the 11th day funeral rites of Suri (Dheekshikth Shetty) once Dharani ties the thali around the widowed Vennela’s neck, that were mass,” said Odela. “I wonder if it became too rooted though, to a point that people outside Telangana were unable to understand everything in the film. Balagam (2023) is also rooted in Telangana culture but it uses a blend, a simplified cinematic language to communicate its ideas.”

Varma located the problem elsewhere – the conflicts in recent mass films have tended to be familiar and convenient. “It’s either a rape or a death, probably that of a woman, which wakes the hero up. That was fine for years. But how long can a film-loving audience watch the same story retold badly?” Varma said that barring a few exceptions, most contemporary Telugu mass cinema felt “charmless and tepid” to her, lacking the quirk and textures that made older films from this genre enjoyable. “People used to laugh at VV Vinayak films and their infamous Sumo car count, but they liked the films,” she pointed out. “There is more to them than the body count and sword swishes. No matter how manipulative, the emotional core was solid. Mass films do not pretend to be real and neither should they. So then, to gain a viewer’s investment, the film has to work hard.”

Earlier, films almost always had a working class hero who wore the badge of “massy-ness” with pride, said Varma. The working class hero often fought against the greedy evils of politics and capitalism. Muta Mestri (1993), Gharana Bullodu (1995) and Khaleja are a few examples. Further, many of these films also had a “classy” counterpart who was rich and educated but wasn’t streetsmart or brave like the hero. “In recent years though, the definition of a mass hero has broadened to include the classy counterpart, and as a result the definition of a mass film has become vague. Anything that makes money and pleases the so-called masses is a mass film,” said Varma.

The Telugu film industry has now spawned a hero who has become so larger-than-life that there isn’t any space for the other characters. “There was a time when the antagonist had equal space as the protagonist, but that has become diluted in recent times,” Maha said. Industry insiders said that scripts are often tweaked and manipulated to fit the image of a hero, rather than suit the character that the actor is playing. This creates a disconnect that keeps the audience from properly buying into the conflict at the heart of the film. The star has long been visible in the character he plays in mainstream Telugu cinema, but not to an extent that the character turned into an empty shell.

The audience and the mass film

A variety of themes can be stuffed into the template of a mass film, but here too, the sensibility of a filmmaker matters. Varma singled out SS Rajamouli as an example of a director who draws inspirations from various sources to create a narrative that feels simultaneously rooted while also working with audiences across borders. “SS Rajamouli is great at this. He takes a familiar plot and turns it on its head with a clever screenplay and epic garnishing,” said Varma.

Maha believes the meaning of the mass film has changed over the years. “From appealing to a large number of people or the mass, the understanding now is that it’s a film catering to those they consider as B and C centres,” said Maha. “I don’t like categorising the audience as A, B or C. That feels like discrimination to me.”

Maha’s films, such as the critically acclaimed slice-of-life anthology C/ O Kancharapalem (2018) and the comedy drama Uma Maheswara Ugra Roopasya (2022), aren’t “mass” by the definition of the word, but they have achieved wide appeal despite going against the grain. “Even now, when I go to rural areas, I meet people who tell me that they felt like they watched their own lives on screen through my films,” said Maha. “I get asked why I don’t have commercial elements in my films. There’s this expectation that a mass film shouldn’t have logic. I don’t understand why not. Didn’t the mass films of earlier decades have logic?”

According to Odela, the way people make and consume cinema has drastically changed over the years. “In my grandparents’ time, art had a certain value. A single line was enough to convey a lot of meaning – directly and indirectly. But now, I feel we tend to ‘decode’ everything,” he said. Odela emphasised that the audience shouldn’t be blamed for how they choose to receive a film, but also said that to his mind, part of the problem for mainstream Telugu cinema is the critical reception films receive. He said “analyses” dominate the conversation around a film and don’t allow the audience to experience it at an emotional level. “When the Dasara teaser came out, people gave me unnecessary credit for using red or green colours when I didn’t mean anything in particular with those. At the same time, whatever I thought was brilliant and would be discussed, was missed by most people.”

The mass film is at crossroads in the Telugu industry now, with the definition itself on shaky grounds. Without conviction in the writing or execution, the punches just don’t land any more the way they used to when the demi-gods reigned supreme.