Tollywood

From Freepedia

Tollywood (టోల్లీవుడ) refers to both the Telugu and Bengali language film industries. Both the names derive the concept from Hollywood (similar to Bollywood and Kollywood), in the former case Telugu + Hollywood and in the latter, Tollygunge + Hollywood. While Bengali cinema is older, the term Tollywood is more specifically used in reference to the Telugu film industry. See Bengali cinema for a discussion of Tollygunge films.

Contents

Name

The Official name of the Telugu Film Industry is Vendithera. In Telugu, Vendi means Silver and Thera means screen.

Tollywood was also coined in reference to the Bengali film industry, based in Tollygunge in Kolkata, West Bengal. However, the phrase is less used than simply Bengali Cinema. See more on Bengali Cinema.

Industry

(1 crore = 10,000,000 rupee, approximately US$230,000 or €190,000 on May 11, 2005.)

Tollywood is based in the state of Andhra Pradesh in southern India.

Between 100 and 150 Telugu Tollywood films are released each year. There are generally at least two releases each week. Popular movies tend to open during the three festive seasons of the region: Sankranthi (Pongal), Summer, and Dushera.

In 2004, the total business for the Pongal season was around 150 crores greater than that of the Bollywood industry. There are at least three TV channels, which exclusively feature programs relating to Telugu movies.

Crossover with Bollywood and Kollywood

Many famous Bollywood actresses often take time to do Telugu movies, mainly due to the large salaries and the quick pace of production. Well-known stars like Sonali Bendre and Amisha Patel charged a sum of 75 lakhs, while smaller stars like Katrina Kaif are paid a handsome 40 lakhs. Trisha, Shriya, Genelia - the leading female stars are paid 30-40 lakhs per film, depending on the number of days they shoot.

For young heroines, waiting for a break in Bollywood - telugu movies are good place to begin with and are considered a gateway. This is because Tollywood is the biggest regional movie market in India and the work there is closely monitored by the big names in Hindi film industry who are on the lookout for storylines to remake and fresh talent be it actors or technicians.

From Kollywood most of new film's stories have been taken. For example, Vasantham, Lakshmi Narasimha, etc. The swapping of stories and heroines between Kollywood and Tollywood is common, as Kollywood has good technicians, directors, etc while Tollywood has money.

Budgets

(1 crore = 10,000,000 rupee, approximately US$230,000 or €190,000 on May 11, 2005.)
Image:TeluguMovieSuper.jpg

The budget of Telugu movies is usually between 7-15 crores per film, and the pre-release revenue range for popular films is about 12-20 crores per film. The post release business of super hits is around 25-35 crores.

Fans

Well-known stars of Tollywood have devoted fan followings in the South. Many fans participate in social activities during movie releases. Celebrations 50 or 100 days after a films release, on Silver Jubilees and on the stars' birthdays are also common.

Telugu film personalities

Miscellaneous

The longtime Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, N. T. Rama Rao, was a famous alumnus of Tollywood.

Sri Sri was the lyricist of 39 Tollywood films.

One notable Telugu film is Sankaraabharanam(శంకరాభరణం), directed in 1979 by Dr. K. Viswanath for Poornodaya Art Creations (Producer: Edida Nageswara Rao).

See also

External links

There are portals that are dedicated to Telugu movies and are popular mainly amongst the expatriot Telugu population across the world. A few of them are the following:

Fan sites

In recent years, many fans have taken to running websites spotlighting their favorite celebrities.

Retrieved from "http://en.freepedia.org/Tollywood.html"


Views
Personal tools
In other languages
Similar Links