Telugu Film Industry is a very interesting place to work for. The same audience who would appreciate and take the director to the skies for a good film would throw back the same director back on the grounds if they fail to make a good film. However, there is always hope for a disappointed director to reinvent their own style and make a better film in order to get back their form. As of now, there are few directors who are in similar situation and are struggling to make a new step in rebuilding their career. Let us look at them in little more depth..
Sukumar rose to limelight with an intelligent love story Arya starring Allu Arjun exactly ten years ago in the year 2004. The audience was stunned to watch a love story with logic and some fantastic locations and melodious songs. This logic loving director never looked back in his career with series of hits like Arya 2, 100% Love and so on until he got chance to make a film with Superstar Mahesh Babu. This director chose a psychological thriller 1-Nenokkadine subject which immediately impressed the hero, who must have wanted to do something unique and different. The film released this sankranthi festive in the midst of controversies relating to the poster being demeaning to women. Alas! The film was too complex for the common audience to understand and cherish. It didn’t have any mass element which a Mahesh Babu fan could rejoice, and the slow pace became cause of more troubles. Though some people appreciated the cinematography and interesting take of the director, the film failed in the box office and its contender Yevadu became a commercial hit. Sukumar couldn’t stir an interesting commercial formula to get a hit and it is high time he rediscovers his form.
Everybody knows the success story of Harish Shankar who made the blockbuster film Gabbar Singh starring Pawan Kalyan in the lead. Despite being a remake, Harish Shankar added his own native style and the Antakshari sequence became a trendsetter in comedy scenes for Telugu Cinema. People were eager to see his next project Ramaiya Vastavayya starring Jr.NTR but the film lacked novelty or interesting sequences to make either the fans or normal film goers interested. He needs to get back his unique story telling style to come back to original form.
Coming to the female director Nandini Reddy, she made a great mark on small stream Telugu Cinema with Nani and Nitya Menon starrer Alaa Modhalaindhi. She gave a new meaning to comedy and feel good romantic films for which Telugu Audience were yearning for. Her own mark comedy was evident throughout the film and naturally, her next project Jabardasth raised more expectations. But the film was heavily criticized for meaningless comedy and loosely being based on Hindi hit Band Baaja Baarat.
Meher Ramesh is yet another director who had an interesting start in his career with Jr.NTR starrer Kantri and Prabhas starrer Billa. He is still considered as a director with stylish taste and who knows the formula of commercial success. But his Shakti was ridiculed for illogical sequences and too much of fictional fantasy which bored the audience. As if this failure wasn’t enough, he made another disastrous project Shadow starring Venkatesh in the lead. He is looking for a serious break to get back his commercial form.
Ashok who directed the film Sukumarudu starring Aadhi and Veerabhadram who directed Bhai starring Nagarjuna are also in the same boat. They failed to make a commercial mark and couldn’t present a strong storyline enough to make the film stand out unique.
These are the directors who have great capability of making commercial hits and enthrall the audience but got their own ideas backfire due to lack of judgement. We will have to wait and see whether they will reinvent their own style and come back with better films.
