50 Fun Facts About Telugu Cinema

By what nickname is the Telugu film industry commonly known?

Kollywood is Tamil cinema, Sandalwood is Kannada and Mollywood is Malayalam; the T comes from Telugu.

In which city's Film Nagar district is the Telugu film industry based today?

The industry started in Madras and only finished its move to the new base in the 1990s.

Who is regarded as the 'Father of Telugu cinema'?

A Madras photographer, he built South India's first permanent cinema hall, the Gaiety Theatre, around 1912.

Which 1921 silent film is generally considered the first Telugu feature?

Director R. S. Prakash also played the title role of Bhishma; his father produced it.

15 September is marked as Telugu Film Day because which talkie was completed that day in 1931?

It was shot in about three weeks at Imperial Studios in Bombay by Ardeshir Irani, who had just made India's first sound film, Alam Ara.

What do the three letters of the 2022 film title RRR stand for in English?

It began as a working title standing for Rajamouli, Ram Charan and Rama Rao, and the Telugu version expands to Raudram Ranam Rudhiram.

RRR's two heroes are fictionalised versions of which real revolutionaries?

The real men fought the British Raj and the Nizam of Hyderabad respectively and never met; the film imagines them in 1920s Delhi.

In which Academy Award category did 'Naatu Naatu' win at the 2023 Oscars?

It was the first song from an Asian film to win the category, and it had already taken the Golden Globe.

The 'Naatu Naatu' dance sequence was filmed outside a presidential palace in which country?

The Mariinskyi Palace in Kyiv hosted the shoot in August 2021, a few months before the Russian invasion.

Who composed 'Naatu Naatu' and the scores for both Baahubali films?

He is the director's cousin and has scored films since 1991; the Oscar came with a Golden Globe and a Padma Shri the same year.

Who directed Baahubali, its sequel and RRR?

Each of those three films was the most expensive Indian production at the time of its release; Time put him on its 100 most influential list in 2023.

In the 2012 film Eega, the murdered hero is reincarnated as what?

The idea started as a joke by screenwriter V. Vijayendra Prasad; the film won nine awards at the Toronto After Dark festival.

In the first Baahubali film's final scene, who confesses to killing Amarendra Baahubali?

The cliffhanger left India asking one question for two years, and the slave-commander's reasons are the whole of the sequel's plot.

What is the name of the kingdom at the centre of the Baahubali films?

Kuntala is Devasena's home kingdom; Amarendra's dying words are 'Jai Mahishmati'.

Which actor plays the dual role of Amarendra and Mahendra Baahubali?

He bulked up to 105 kilograms for the part and spent four years on the two films.

Who plays the tyrant Bhallaladeva in the Baahubali films?

Sathyaraj plays the slave-commander and Nassar the scheming Bijjaladeva.

Which 2017 film was the first Indian film to gross over ₹1,000 crore?

It reached ₹792 crore in six days and, as of 2025, still holds the record as the highest-grossing film inside India.

Which actress plays the regent Sivagami in the Baahubali films?

The screenwriter said the character has shades of both Kunti and Kaikeyi from the epics.

Which 2024 film, budgeted at ₹600 crore, is the most expensive Indian film ever made?

Nag Ashwin's sci-fi epic mixes the Mahabharata with a dystopian future Kashi ruled from a floating inverted pyramid.

In Nag Ashwin's 2024 sci-fi epic, Amitabh Bachchan plays which cursed immortal warrior?

Krishna curses him with painful immortality after he fires the Brahmastra at Uttara's unborn child; Deepika Padukone plays the mother of the avatar.

What does Pushpa Raj smuggle in the Pushpa films?

The rare wood grows only in the Seshachalam Hills of Andhra Pradesh, where the first film is set in the late 1990s.

Allu Arjun's Pushpa: The Rise win made him the first from Telugu cinema to receive which honour?

Composer Devi Sri Prasad won Best Music Direction at the same 69th National Film Awards.

Who directed both Pushpa films?

He first narrated the script to Mahesh Babu, who walked away in 2019 citing creative differences.

Pushpa 2: The Rule opens with a smuggled consignment arriving at a port in which country?

The sequel grossed over ₹1,600 crore worldwide, briefly the second-highest total ever for a film in India.

Which actor is known as 'Megastar' and founded the Praja Rajyam Party in 2008?

The title first appeared on the title cards of Marana Mrudangam in 1988; he later served as India's Minister of State for Tourism.

Which 2017 comeback film was the Megastar's 150th as an actor?

It was a remake, and the number in the title is the milestone itself.

Which actor, the Megastar's younger brother, became his state's Deputy Chief Minister in June 2024?

Once billed as 'Power Star', he founded the Jana Sena Party and won the Pitapuram seat by more than 70,000 votes.

Which RRR star made his acting debut in the 2007 action film Chirutha?

He is the Megastar's son, and his second film was the record-breaking reincarnation hit of 2009.

Which 2009 film follows a street-bike racer linked by reincarnation to a 17th-century warrior?

It became the highest-grossing Telugu film ever at the time, and its Japanese dub was a hit nine years later.

Which organisation did actor N. T. Rama Rao found in 1982?

It was Andhra Pradesh's first regional party, and he went on to serve as Chief Minister over three terms.

Jr NTR hosted the first Telugu season of which reality show in 2017?

He also hosted the fifth season of Evaru Meelo Koteeswarulu, the Telugu Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

Jr NTR is a trained dancer in which classical Indian form?

The form originates in Andhra Pradesh, and he is widely rated among the finest dancers in Indian cinema.

Which 1957 mythological film was voted the greatest Indian film of all time in a 2013 CNN-IBN poll?

It was also the first Telugu film to be digitally remastered and colourised, at a cost of about ₹7.5 crore.

In the 1957 classic, S. V. Ranga Rao plays which demon who conjures an illusory marketplace?

The magical town he builds outside Dvaraka gives the film its name, and he spends the wedding disguised as the bride.

Which studio complex holds the Guinness World Record as the world's largest?

Founded in 1996 by media baron Ramoji Rao, it spreads over about 2,000 acres and draws 1.5 million tourists a year.

Which actor founded Annapurna Studios in 1976 to anchor the industry's move from Madras?

The Devadasu star received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1990; his son Nagarjuna now co-owns the studio.

The 1980 classic Sankarabharanam centres on a master of which music tradition?

It opened to near-empty halls, then ran for more than 25 weeks and was the first South Indian film to win the National Award for Best Popular Film.

Comedian Brahmanandam holds a Guinness World Record for what?

He has appeared in more than 1,000 films and received the Padma Shri in 2009.

Arjun Reddy (2017) was remade in Hindi as which Shahid Kapoor film?

Sandeep Reddy Vanga directed both versions; the original was also remade twice in Tamil.

The 2018 biopic Mahanati tells the life of which golden-age actress?

Dulquer Salmaan plays her husband Gemini Ganesan, and the story is framed by a journalist played by Samantha.

Who played the title role in Mahanati and won the National Film Award for Best Actress?

The film also won Best Feature Film in Telugu and Best Costume Design at the 66th National Film Awards.

Mahesh Babu's Pokiri (2006) was remade in Hindi as which 2009 Salman Khan film?

The original was the highest-grossing Telugu film for three years and made Puri Jagannadh a 'star director'.

Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire is set in which fictional city-state?

It follows exiled prince Deva and current prince Varadha, played by Prithviraj Sukumaran, through a planned coup.

Salaar was directed by which filmmaker behind the KGF films?

Hombale Films produced it, and it became the highest-grossing Telugu film of 2023.

Who plays the title role in the 2024 superhero hit Hanu-Man?

Released on Sankranti 2024, it launched the Prasanth Varma Cinematic Universe and grossed over ₹300 crore.

Which Indian film industry sold the most tickets in 2022?

It sold 233 million tickets that year, and Andhra Pradesh has more cinema screens than any other state.

What was RRR's final estimated budget, making it the most expensive Indian film at release?

It started at ₹350–400 crore in 2019 and overran by about ₹150 crore because of COVID-19 delays.

Which actress, who plays Srivalli in Pushpa, is married to Vijay Deverakonda?

They first paired on screen in Geetha Govindam (2018) and again in Dear Comrade the next year.

Nandamuri Balakrishna's 100th film cast him as which second-century Satavahana ruler?

He is N. T. Rama Rao's sixth son and has held the Hindupur assembly seat since 2014.

Which 1986 film was India's official entry to the Academy Awards?

All four are K. Viswanath films; this one stars Kamal Haasan as a man with a cognitive disability who rescues a young widow. It was not nominated.