Notable Telugu Movies
Here is my list of 100+ notable Telugu movies:
Summary Statistics
- 1940s - 3 films
- 1950s - 15 films
- 1960s - 23 films
- 1970s - 32 films
- 1980s - 26 films
- 1990s - 30 films
- 2000s - 15 films
- 2010s - 15 films
- 2020s - 2 films
1940s - The Foundation Years
1942 - Bhakta Pothana This is legendary KV Reddy's first movie. Chittoor V Nagayya has cinematically defined Pothana for eternity.
1945 - Swarga Seema First telugu movie to be nominated for a foreign film festival. Ghantasala makes debut.
1946 - Tyagayya Chittoor V Nagayya's performance is sublime and purity personified. The movie has some of the best bhavayukta reneditions of Saint Tyagaraja's compositions.
1950s - The Golden Era Begins
1950 - Shavukaru A wedding disrupted by a village feud. Pretty typical in that sense. But stark realistic portrayal for its time.
1951 - Malleeswari The movie is from an era when the director (BN Reddy) let actors (NTR and Bhanumathi) actually take time to express their romantic feelings towards one another. Some amazing songs by S Rajeswara Rao and Devulapalli Krishna Sastry.
1951 - Paatala Bhairavi Alladin and the magic lamp rehashed for Telugu audience. SV Ranga Rao and NT Rama Rao give classic performances. Pingali Nagendra Rao's phrases get added to the Telugu lexicon.
1953 - Devadasu ANR cements his position as the eternal lover in Telugu cinema.
1953 - Pakka Inti Ammayi Anjali Devi, Relangi and AM Rajah play the first version of Padosan. Well, Padosan was derived from this original.
1954 - Pedda Manushulu Another KV Reddy's masterpiece. With great cast including Jandhyala Gaurinatha Sastry, Mudigonda Lingamurthy, Relangi, Vangara Venkata Subbayya - this movie holds a mirror to a slice of society from 50s.
1955 - Missamma Way ahead of its time and yet successfully captivates it audience. Progressive men and women, inter-religion interaction... its got all, packaged into good family entertainer. NTR, ANR, SVR, Savitri and Jamuna. Yes, the whole package. The missing piece - Ghantasala. AM Raja sings instead. He is not bad either.
1955 - Donga Ramudu Another great KV Reddy movie. The movie introduced new phrases into Telugu lexicon - "Sambarala Rambabu", "Gas kottadam", "Babul debba, golconda abba". The song "Chiguraakulalo Chilakamma" lives forever.
1955 - Anarkali The story of Saleem and Anarkali. Much earlier than Mughal-e-Azam. SV Ranga Rao as Akbar is Prithvi Raj Kapoor's match. P. Adinaraya Rao is Naushad's disciple. His "Rajasekhara Nee Pai Moju Teeraledu raa…" is a haunting classic.
1955 - Kanyasulkam This film adaptation of G.V.Apparow's (Gurazada Appa Rao) play is a masterpiece in acting and screenplay adaptation. Veteran actors like Vinnakota Ramanna Pantulu, Vangara Venkata Subbayya and CS Rao give NTR a run for money.
1956 - Tenali Ramakrishna The casting cannot get any better. ANR as the wise-cracking witty poet, NTR as Krishna Deva, Chittoor Nagayya as Minister Thimmarusu and Bhanumati as the spy. Great poetry from the Vijayanagara court. Sivaji Ganesan plays the poet in the Tamil version, and I have to say ANR shines better.
1957 - Thodi Kodallu One of the first joint family problem fixing movies.
1957 - Maaya Bazaar Perhaps the greatest Telugu cinema ever! The movie takes characters from Mahabharatha and cooks its own delightful recipe making them telugu instead of Aryan. Pingali Nagendra Rao concocts new telugu words for the movie. Ghantasala and S.Rajeswara Rao(uncredited) composed ever lasting melodies. NTR defines Krishna for a whole culture. SVR and Savitri play their roles interchangeably transitioning into each other seamlessly. Widely acclaimed and wildly popular.
1957 - Suvarna Sundari A rehash of Sakuntala-Dushyantha story. Hauting music from Adi Narayana Rao.
1958 - Appu Chesi Pappu Koodu Another classic Vijaya comedy preaching about ill-effects of debt.
1958 - Maangalya Balam Tries to re-iterate the age-old Indian wisdom of marriages are timeless. Absolutely terrific music.
1960s - Mythological Mastery
1960 - Mahakavi Kalidasu Akkineni Nageswara Rao is outstanding as the great poet. Sivaji Ganesan played the part in Tamil and Rajkumar in Kannada. But ANR displays a particular unmatched angst of illiterate man being bestowed by Saraswathi herself.
1961 - Jagadekaveeruni Katha Another KV Reddy classic and a blockbuster hit for its time. The movie features one of Ghanatasala/Pendyala's all time great song - Siva Sankari. The lead role's name Pratap, perhaps comes from 1951 MGR hit - Sarvadhikari.
1961 - Seetarama Kalyanam Ravana playing Rudraveena is pretty fantastic.
1962 - Gulebakavali Katha The great song writer C. Narayana Reddy makes his debut.
1962 - Gundamma Katha Gundamma tries to get her daughters married off. A timeless classic. NTR, ANR, SVR, Savitri and Jamuna. The standard package along with Suryakantam as termagant Gundamma. A whole culture refused to name their daughters Suryakantham after this movie.
1962 - Dakshayagnam A very stage play reproduction of Siva vs Dakshya, excellently portrayed by NTR and SVR. The film features a lot of stage artists like Kanchu Kantam P Suri Babu.
1963 - Mooga Manasulu Eloquently picturized muted love. ANR, Savitri and Jamuna give some timeless performances.
1963 - Chaduvukunna Ammayilu Just the title suffices notability.
1963 - Lava Kusa It is common to see multiple film depictions of chapters from Ramayana and Mahabharatha. But no body else dared to do Uththara Kanda after the wild success of this one. NT Rama Rao plays Sree Rama in viyoga. Ghantasala and Samudrala simplify Ramayana into spoken word set to hummable music. HUGE hit for its time.
1963 - Narthanasaala Classic adaptation of "Virata Parva" chapter from the great epic Mahabharatha. SV Ranga Rao adds a master stroke of genius to the villainy of Keechaka. NT Rama Rao excels playing the trans-gender dance teacher - Brihannala. Mangalampalli Bala Murali Krishna lends his voice to an exceptionally beautiful song - 'Salalitha Raaga Sudha Raasa Saaram'. The movie uses a lot of original poetry written by Tikkana Somayaji from Andhra Mahabharatham.
1964 - Ramudu Bheemudu Although ANR did the first double action in Telugu cinema, this NTR starrer spawned off popular double action movies in Tamil and Hindi.
1964 - Dr. Chakravarthy Platonic love in Telugu cinema.
1965 - Pandava Vanavaasam Another excellent adaptation of a chapter, Aranyaka Parva, from the Mahabharata. Savitri and NT Rama Rao play Draupadi and Bheema sena hyper imaginatively. Ghantasala provides anachronistic music with guitars. NTR performs an forceful rendition of "Dharuni Rajya Sampada", in an extra-ordinary reaction scene to that performance, SVR says "Ha, Baaniselu". This made every one dread working with SVR's fierce reactions.
1965 - Satya Harischandra The legendary KV Reddy's latter masterpiece.
1966 - Sri Krishna Pandaveeyam NTR accomplishes something amazing - director and dual role in the movie. Pretty much monopolized the roles of Krishna and Duryodhana for the rest of the human history.
1966 - Sri Krishna Tulabharam Jamuna immortalizes Satyabhama. Narada (T Kanta Rao) auctioning off Krishna (NTR) and Yadavas protesting against it - is genius.
1966 - Gudachari 116 The first spy genre movie in Telugu. Krishna himself made numerous spy films through out his career, but this movie also triggered the spy genre in hindi with the super hit remake Farz.
1967 - Sudigundalu Great court drama from 60s questioning law and justice. Directed by Adurti Subba Rao and written by K.Viswanth. Akkineni Nagarjuna also makes a debut.
1967 - Sri Krishnavataram Film adaptation of Krishna's story includes the wildly popular Tirupati Venkata Kavula version of Udyoga Parvam. Cant stop listening to those padyamulu.
1967 - Bhaktha Prahlada SV Ranga Raa's performance and S. Rajeswara Rao's music are the stars of this movie. Pothana's poetry brings extra ordinary authenticity to the devotion.
1967 - Saakshi One of the many movies that capture village politics. What distinguishes this one is the raw performances of Krishna and Vijaya Nirmala.
1968 - Lakshmi Nivasam SV Ranga Rao teaches protestant work ethic and financial literacy to his kids.
1969 - BudhidhiManthudu What should the village spend its resources on? A temple or a school? Akkineni Nageswara Rao plays a double role as if not to offend either parties.
1970s - New Directions
1971 - Dasara Bullodu The smashest of hits. Becomes a phrase in Telugu lexicon.
1971 - Mosagallaki Mosagadu One of the first and most successful Westerns made for Telugu cinema.
1971 - Prem Nagar ANR reprises the devadas character. This time its only a much bigger hit.
1971 - Sampoorna Ramayanam Poetic, poetic and poetic. Poetic written all over it, this is probably the best film depiction of Ramayana ever, riddled with mellifluous poems and songs. SV Ranga Rao gives a stellar performance as Ravana.
1972 - Badi Panthulu NTR plays an aging school teacher in this tear jerking family drama. Sridevi makes her debut as a child artist.
1972 - Tata Manavadu SV Ranga Rao gives yet another memorable performance as a the head of the family. Great philosophical songs too. Directed by Dasari Narayana Rao.
1972 - Bala Bharatam Young Kauravas and Paandavas compete to make a white elephant. Sparks child imagination and curiosity with a whole bag of tricks.
1973 - Andala Ramudu A boat tour on the river Godavari to Bhadrachalam. Bapu and Mullapudi yet to shake off the Ramayana intoxication.
1973 - Neramu Siksha K Viswanth's adaptation of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment.
1974 - Alluri Seetarama Raju Krishna's attempt to portray the life of the great local patriotic hero. Won kudos from the great NTR.
1975 - Thota Ramudu Chalam had a niche movie corner for himself amongst the stars of the day. Features some memorable music by Sathyam.
1975 - Muthyala Muggu Bapu-Ramana actually never shook off the Ramayana intoxication. Rao Gopala Rao gives an amazing debut performance. Only self-plug: my grandmother's brother acted as the Pujari in the movie.
1975 - Jeevana Jyothi VaniSree gives an excellent performance of experiencing child loss. K Viswanath ushers the era of female crowd pullers.
1976 - Sree Rajeswari Coffee Vilas Club Missamma after a couple of decades. G. Varalakshmi excels in the matriarch role.
1976 - Prema Bandham K Viswanath has done some real fine work outside his musical genre. This one two outstanding characters portrayed by Sowcar Janaki and Kaikala Satyanarayana. Also, the year Jayaprada's career took off, isn it?
1976 - Seeta Kalyanam An aesthetic feat in filming a Hindu wedding.
1976 - Siri Siri Muvva K Viswanath's aarangetram into the musical genre of films.
1976 - Bhakta Kannappa Bapu/Ramana shift their focus to a non-Ramayana/Mahabharata story for once. Memorable music by Sathyam.
1977 - Dana Veera Soora Karna NTR ups his own game by directing the movie as well as playing three pivotal roles in the movie - Krishna, Duryodhana and Karna himself. Sivaji Ganesan's portrayal of Karna in 1963 Karnan may be the only match to this performance of Karna.
1977 - Chankya Chandra Gupta Sivaji Ganesan plays Alexander adding to the already illustrious performances of Chanakya by ANR and Chandragupta Maurya by NTR.
1977 - Yama Gola Another endearing Telugu genre - human tryst with the Lord of death - Yama Dharma Raja. NTR preaches democracy and socialism to the netherworlds of Yama. DV Narasa Raju writes the finest satire in Telugu cinema, on Hindu mythology and the contemporary politics of the '77 emergency era in the NTR-visits-Naraka episode.
1977 - Adavi Ramudu Bell bottoms, wigs, young heroines and heavy dialog gives NT Rama Rao a new lease on his acting life. The movie also introduced Veturi Sundarama Murthy to a wider audience.
1978 - Vetagadu The movie catapults NT Rama Rao from mega super star to mega bumper super star or whatever.
1978 - Maro Charitra A tamil boy and telugu girl fall in love and their story ends in a terrible tragedy. Launches the Telugu career of the great Kamal Hassan. Was later re-made as Ek Duje Ke Liye in Hindi which launched his Hindi career. Love story across languages was an innovation for its time.
1978 - Manavoori Pandavulu Bapu-Mullapudi change gears to Mahabharatha and rehash Saakshi with more characters.
1978 - Anugraham Shyam Benegal makes a movie adaptation of Blockbuster Marathi novel "Kondura".
1979 - Idi Katha Kaadu A divorced single mom (Jayasudha) tries to raise her child. Chiranjeevi plays a villain and Kamal Hassan a ventriloquist.
1979 - Maa Bhoomi Gautam Ghose makes his debut with part-documentary and part-feature-fim portrayal of subsistence farmers under a feudalistic society in pre-independence Telangana. Vinjamuri Seeta Devi, who later, chronicled "Folk Music of Andhra Pradesh" has composed music for this super hit, in its times. Singer of Pubic Square, Gaddar also makes an appearance in the movie.
1979 - Guppedu Manasu Simultaneously shot as Nool Veli in Tamil, is a great psychological drama aptly penned by Kannadasan/Atreya in the song "Mounathil Vilayadum" / "Mouname Nee Bhasha".
1979 - Andamaina Anubhavam Simultaneously shot as Ninaithile Inikkum, this is the last multi-starrer with Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan.
1979 - Sankarabharanam The movie starts with an adage: "Animals, babies and humans. All of them enjoy music". The movie sets out to demonstrate that adage with out any big stars except of course soulful music. Somayajulu gets type casted for life.
1980s - The Commercial Era
1980 - Vamsa Vriksham Women's rights in a patriarchal society screaming for a male child.
1980 - Sapthapadi A deep reflection piece on caste, marriage and karma. Well articulated with out being preachy both through dialog and songs.
1981 - Aakali Rajyam Srirangam Srinivasa Rao's vast body of blood-boiling literary work gives voice to Kamal's starving hunger. Scathing satire on the unemployment problems of 70s and 80s.
1981 - Thyagayya Classic but pales in comparision to the Nagayya version. Comprehensive representation of popular Tyagaraja krithis.
1982 - Naalugu Sthambhala Aata Redefined 'love story' in Telugu cinema. Pretty much the first modern love story in which kids revolt their parents' decisions. Also introduced "సుత్తికొట్టు" telugu lexicon.
1982 - Bobbili Puli NT Rama Rao is catapulted into Andhra Pradesh politics with this movie.
1982 - Subhalekha One of the non-preachy and yet impactful movies that wage a war against dowry, a phenomenally evil social menace in the 80s. Young Chiranjeevi is still malleable and ductile.
1983 - Khaidi Chiranjeevi, yet another hero is now called the supreme hero.
1983 - Meghasandesam Nageswara Rao plays a struggling poet who is newly inspired by a temple dancer ensuring some family melodrama.
1983 - Saagara Sangamam Talented dancer who seem to have everything under the sun loses all of it. Heart-wrenching performances, soulful dance and music sequences, out of world background score, good dialog and movie ending with 'No End'. Too many great things to mention in a paragraph!
1984 - Srivariki Premalekha Introduced the concept of low budget full length dialog and character comedy. Guaranteed laugh riots.
1984 - Mayuri Autobiographical movie of dancer Sudha Chandran who overcame her physical disability of a lost leg.
1985 - Vijetha The movie starts with Chiranjeevi's plead to his fans to let him experiment outside his standard fare. If only his fans agreed to the plead! Great supporting cast from Urvasi Sarada and Somayajulu and dialogues by Jandhyala. One of Chiranjeevi's finest movies.
1986 - Swathi Muthyam 1986 was also the year the novel "Forrest Gump" was published. So much for coincidence. Kamal Hassan and Ilaiyaraaja easily outperform Tom Hanks and Alan Silvestri.
1986 - Chantabbai Chiranjeevi plays a bumbling crime detective with no macho what-so-ever. Many classic comedy scenes. Chiranjeevi's portrayal of Charlie Chaplin in a song is a classic and has inspired Kamal Hassan's similar portrayal in a Tamil movie "Punnagai Mannan".
1986 - Sirivennela A deaf and dumb photographer falls in love with a blind flutist. But the audience get an absolute sensory overload with never-before written music and words.
1987 - Padamati Sandhya Raagam Pioneering movie about East meets West, telugu style. Made "The States" tangible to Telugu people for the first time. Introduced Thomas Jane to cinema.
1987 - Aha Naa Pellanta Refined and perfected his concept of low budget full length comedy movies. Timeless comedy which introduced new analogies to Telugu lexicon.
1987 - Swayam Krushi A rags-to-riches story of a shoemaker who has an absolutely brilliant way of venting out his frustration. The movie almost feels like semi-autobiography of Chiranjeevi.
1988 - Choopulu Kalasina Subhavela Another set of great comic caricatures.
1988 - Rudra Veena Son of a Carnatic music legend challenges tradition and loses his inheritance. or does he really? His definitive ideas about his village's social progress take shape into reality bringing fame back to his legendary dad. Ilaiyaraaja brings carnatic musical spring to the masses. Chiranjeevi out performs Kamal Hassan from the Tamil version.
1988 - Swarna Kamalam He actually makes the horse drink water. Not just drink but also appreciate the taste of it. Sirivennela Seetarama Sastry does a jugalbandi with himself. Lifetime best performances of Venkatesh and Bhanupriya.
1989 - Athaku Yamudu Ammayiki Yamudu The first modernization of yet another endearing Telugu genre - son-in-law 'fixing' a termagant mother-in-law. Its Chiranjeevi and Vanisree's turn this time around.
1989 - Ankusam The birth of honest cop fighting the system genre.
1989 - Gitanjali Two dying people discover and nurture each other in love. Ilaiyaraaja and Veturi dish out some of their career best music.
1990s - Diversification
1990 - Karthavyam Vijayashanthi plays an IPS officer opening up a new genre of action movies.
1990 - Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari Chiranjeevi and Sridevi make this socio-fantasy story even more enjoyable. Amrish Puri also establishes the notion of villain from North India.
1990 - Shiva A new student has his own way of fitting into the community. Classic for its cycle chain scene and a host of other college specific things including Ilaiyaraaja's "Botany Paatamundi" and Bhavani.
1990 - Suthradharulu An illiterate village gets back one of its own as a district collector. Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Satyanarayana give great performances.
1991 - Yerra Mandaram Rajendra Prasad plays a timid country fella who musters courage to revolt against the local landlord.
1991 - Gang Leader Chiranjeevi channels Big B's angry young man in Telugu cinema. Enormous hit in spite of Rajiv Gandhi's assassination just weeks after the movie release.
1991 - Kshana Kshanam A heist movie with hilarious performances by Sridevi, Paresh Rawal and Rami Reddy.
1991 - Aditya 369 Sci-fi meets a Krishna Deva Rayala period movie. Balakrishna's career best.
1991 - Pelli Pustakam Sets out on a journey to beautifully etch the commandments of a good marriage. Feels like live action movie of his non-mythological paintings.
1991 - Seetharamaiah Gari Manavaralu The circle of life beautifully told for Telugu audience. One of ANR's great twilight age performances.
1992 - Gharana Mogudu Chiranjeevi cements his position as a THE box office mega star. A lot of classic dance moves and Chiranjeevi dialogs.
1992 - Swathi Kiranam How black does it get, when envy gets in the way of divine music? Mammootty shows as black as a black hole. Puhazhendi, KV Mahadevan's assistant does most of the music.
1992 - Aapathbhandavudu Milk boy helps a sexual abuse victim recover. Chiranjeevi gives another good performance. Jandhyala plays a character too.
1992 - Chitram! Bhalare Vichitram!! Another full length laugh riot. Perfected "bachelor comedy" genre. Also, introduced "నీ ఎంకమ్మ" to telugu lexicon.
1993 - Gaayam One of Ram Gopal Verma's best. Sirivennela plays a cameo.
1993 - Ankuram An inspiring journey of a middle-class woman to return an abandoned child to his father.
1993 - Mr. Pellam What if wife is the bread winner in a male dominated society?
1993 - Money Two unemployed youth kidnap a rich industrialist. A funny caper movie with songs in conversational style.
1993 - Major Chandrakanth NTR, the grand old man by this time, still got it.
1994 - Yama Leela SV Krishna Reddy reprises tryst with Yama in a full length comedy. Big boost to a host of comedy actors of Telugu cinema.
1994 - Bhairava Dweepam Long overdue in the rich folklore tradition of telugu movies.
1994/95 - Erra Sainyam/Cheemala Dandu Popular movies in the Marxist genre in Telugu cinema. Huge hits in Telangana.
1995 - Pedarayudu Mohan Babu nails this performance as a just village head. Rajinikanth electrifies the screen with his 10-min screen presence.
1995 - Subha Sankalpam Viswanath himself makes an acting debut. Fine performances from Kamal and Aamani. Veturi Sundaramamurthy patches up with K. Viswanath after a decade of refusing to write for him.
1995 - Drohi Simultaneously shot as Kuruthipunal in Tamil, a masterpiece essay on the internal-terrorist problems of India. Much better than the hindi original Drohkaal.
1996 - Ninne Pelladutha Nagarjuna-Tabu make an endearing big joint family love story.
1996 - Pelli Sandadi Raghavendra Rao introduces a new kind of telugu family entertainer with weddings and songs. Well actually he just borrowed Hum Apke Hain Koun, but none the less, no wedding in Andhra Pradesh now happens with out using the title of the movie.
1996 - Rambantu Bapu/Ramana never ever shook off the Ramayana intoxication. Not one bit.
1997 - Osey Ramulamma Vijay Shanti plays a rural woman raped by a landlord. She rebels against the system and kills him.
1997 - Annamayya The movie is immensely watchable in spite of Suman playing Lord Venkateswara. SP Balasubramanyam and Keeravani hugely compensate lack of a lot of things in the movie.
1997 - Sindhooram A rare reflection piece on corruption and disillusionment amongst youth. The movie ends with a sharp commentary song by Sirivennela.
1998/99 - Tholi Prema/Thammudu A pioneer in Telugu romcom genre. A lot of scenes turned out to be popular cultural references.
2000s - Modern Telugu Cinema
2000 - Samarasimha Reddy/Narasimha Naidu/Indra Sour note in telugu cinema although hugely successful box office formulaic movies. Unstylized violence with bloated dramatic dialog.
2000 - Nuvve Kavali Redefined Telugu love story once again for the 21st century. This time its not only about uniting with your soul mate but also keeping your parents happy while you do it.
2001 - Murari Set a new benchmark in filming a wedding.
2001 - Nuvvu Naaku Nachchav Change of pace from dominant slapstick comedy in Telugu cinema to more verbal comedy.
2003 - Aithey Story, screenplay wins, you really dont need stars.
2004 - Anand Sekhar Kammula takes Telugu cinema back to a simpler times with simple stories and a much smaller canvas not going beyond personal lives and families. Strong female leads become a hallmark of his work in general.
2004 - Malleeswari Continues the verbal comedy style Trivikram Srinivas seems to be honing on.
2005 - Athadu May be the first real thriller of Telugu cinema. Pretty much.
2005 - Anukokunda Oka Roju No small feat making a popular entertaining movie about cult religions in a country riddled with exactly those.
2006 - Godavari The director does something for the very first time in Telugu cinema - talks about and talks thru dreams and ambitions of a modern woman.
2006 - Pokiri Telugu cinema took a right turn with this movie. Stylized violence, strong punchy dialogs, high technical values, emphasis on plot make it pretty much like any other foreign thriller on Netflix.
2006 - Bommarillu Prakash Raj plays an over protective father playing minute details of son's life and makes the character part of every day lexicon.
2007 - Happy Days Well, who doesnt like to think about their youth.
2008 - Gamyam A road trip movie about self discovery.
2009 - Arundhati A family horror movie? A genre possible only in Telugu cinema?
2009 - Magadheera A bike stuntsman recalls his previous life as a warrior, and pursues the same girl as in the previous life. Prince of Persia meets Telugu cinema, Only better. Way better.
2010s - The New Wave
2010 - Maryada Ramanna A pretty good execution of a very simple premise - the protagonist can't leave the house unless he wants to be killed.
2011 - Sri Rama Rajyam Bapu actually dares to remake the timeless inimitable classic Lava Kusa for 21st century and succeeds to a great extent. Bala Krishna carries off his dad's heritage with certain elegance.
2012 - Eega A bugs life meets Telugu love story. Anthropomorphic characters in Telugu cinema for the first time.
2012 - Mithunam An elderly couple make the best for each other after the nest empties. Sunsets are indeed beautiful.
2015 - Baahubali (The Beginning) "Wait, Telugu people make good movies?"
2017 - Baahubali (The Conclusion) "Saaho Rey, Baahubali!". The coronation act is no less compelling than the best of Game of Thrones.
2017 - Fidaa The strong female lead this time is a Telangana poree. Super hit songs in Telangana dialect for the first time.
2017 - Arjun Reddy Devadas isn't a loser in this film, but instead a fully functioning adult who gradually descends into a bottomless abyss as vices chip away at his ability to be any bit functional. The long regurgitated suffering and the eventual triumph from it makes you a breathe sigh of relief, although the last 10 min of the movie slowly crash into a contrived ending. Telugu cinema ought to take a turn here.
2017 - Ninnu Kori Telugu movies usually suffer from just the hero being multi dimensional characters. Rest of the characters only exist to prop up the hero. The characters in this movie are a pleasant exception. Every character tries to enrich their surroundings by doing the best they can, given their rashoman view of things. I wish more characters are flushed as fully as this one.
2018 - Rangasthalam A richly made period piece set in 1980s rural Andhra. Ram Charan stops imitating his dad. Sukumar deftly explores a lot of great story point possibilities with a deaf protagonist. The movie takes the title from the famous Harischandra Padyamulu by Jashuva. ("Idi pisaachulatho Nitaalekshanandu gajja kadalanchi aadu rangasthalamu"). Props to Sukumar for such a great title. Thoroughly entertaining. Telugu cinema seems to have taken a turn. Arjun Reddy was not an outlier.
2018 - Mahanati Very rarely, do Telugu movies delve into character analysis nor biographies. This one makes a comfortable living in the shrink space. With a great canvas in 8-bit pastel colors, accompanied by a very charming Duleqar Salman, Keerthy Suresh breathes life into Savitri in not just the famous re-created movie scenes, but also a lot of the behind the scenes, which nobody has ever witnessed. Yet, you know that's how the great diva must have lived it. But, that said, movie never really completely transports you into that golden era in spite of all the extraordinary detail to props, sets, costumes etc - mainly because of atrocious accents and diction and a lack of a deep bench of talented actors (who have not been typecast). Consequently, the wide array of Illuminati of the that generation remain cardboard cutouts than actual living legends. It must obviously be cheaper and affordable to throw money at props than to actually inspire and commit actors to get to learn Telugu accent and diction from 1960s. (Surprisingly, the sparse Tamil in the movie sounds reasonable.) Nonetheless, A very bold and entertaining attempt by the director and the producers. Expect more mainstream biopics about NTR, ANR, SVR, former politicians etc, but more hagiography than biography.
2018 - ℅ Kancharlapalem Love Actually set in rural/semi-urban Andhra. The era of Small budget movies with hand held cameras and non-star casting opens up in Telugu cinema.
2019 - Mallesham A biopic of a weaver-engineer set in rural Telangana. Apart from some wonderful casting, the film strives to showcase a wide array of Telangana culture from hardcore rural slang to Goreti Venkanna songs to burrakatha to Telangana customs.
2019 - Brochevarevarura Kauffman arrives in Telugu, usherhing in a new genre: all-story-lines-lead-to-Rome-some-choking-up-fallopian-tubes-but-eventually-go-their-happy-way genre.
2020s - Contemporary Cinema
2020 - Ala Vaikuntapuramulo Nothing really outlier about the movie, except Trivikram Srinivas used a Pothana Padyam for the title. Gotta see if that sets in a new reflection into Telugu heritage.
2020 - Colour Photo Slow paced narration for telugu audience is a feat all by itself.