With the magnanimous success of Baahubali, almost every industry tried to replicate such success with big budgeted fantasy films. But, none matched it. While everyone tried to make films with Baahubali as benchmark for high budget films, Tollywood has found a new ro(ot)ute. Telugu Film Industry went back to the roots of their regional stories. This change has resulted in master class films like Rangasthalam with andhra rural backdrop while Pushpa has Rayalaseema regional backdrop and recently Dasara has Telangana village nativity.
The trend started with Rangasthalam. Until then star hero films only has commercial template with entertainment, action and songs as core elements. For the first time in many years a rural film set in 1980's was made with a star hero. Sukumar has made this brave move with Ram Charan. The film was entirely shot in Village atmosphere with a revenge angle. In another daring attempt he has even made his hero deaf which added more interesting angle to the story. The entire film runs with Andhra region backdrop. Rangasthalam turned out to be a trend setting blockbuster.
Then comes Pushpa with Rayalaseema backdrop. Sukumar once again made an attempt to make a film completely in Village nativity. This time he chose redsandle smuggling as backdrop. He made his hero walk with dislocated shoulder in Pushpa. Allu Arjun who is k own as Stylish Star has spotted a rugged and deglamorized makeover for Pushpa. This time it was embraced nationwide and made it a pan India superhit. The second part of Pushpa, is now one of the most anticipated films.
Recently, Nani starrer Dasara directed by Srikanth Odela came with an out and out Telangana backdrop. This is the first big film tried popular Telangana slang in full-length. The film too runs on revenge theme but the regional flavour and the world build with grassroot level characters is what makes the film connect with the audience. This film too attributes a defect to its protagonist, that he doesn't remember anything after getting drunk. Dasara too emerges as biggest hit in Nani's career.
All these films doesn't have massive budget with world class VFX and action set pieces. But, they are rooted stories which explored particular region. The customs, slang and culture of that region has been portrayed so that the audience can connect with the characters deeply. All the character traits like deaf, shoulder dislocation and alcohol hooliganism are something we often see in our villages. This shows the maount of research the makers have done while making such regional rooted films. Hope more and more such films will come our way in the future.