There’s no language barrier for films these days. If the film has good content and enough resources to reach the audience, it is getting encouraged by all language audiences.
But in the meanwhile, there’s a contemporary narrative from a very small and almost negligible section of people that Telugu cinema should henceforth be called Telangana cinema.
“Previously, they used to make fun of Telangana accent and culture. Telangana slang was used for comedians in the films. But now, Telangana films are ruling the roost. All the Telangana-rooted films are doing very well at the box office. Moreover, Tollywood is geographically centred around Hyderabad, Telangana, so it’s not Telugu cinema anymore and it’s Telangana cinema.” This is their argument.
But what needs to be fundamentally noted here is that there’s no such thing as linguistic advantage at the box office.
Like for instance, KGF, set in a remote Kannada-land mining field was a smashing blockbuster in the Telugu states, along with other parts of the country. Arguing that one language and one culture is ruling the roost is not applicable at all.
Any film, with a rooted approach and novelty can attract other language and other culture audience. Holding the previous grudges pertaining to AP-TS conflict to fuel a ‘Telangana cinema’ narrative now is something only a jobless person would do. Luckily, there’s only a very small section doing it, while most are disregarding it almost instantly.
