Tollywood is the film industry of Andhra Pradesh, which is a merger of Wood from Hollywood and Telugu from Telugu Language. So it is Tollywood, Generally Known as Telugu Film Industry or Cinema of Andhra Pradesh. We can say it is as an analog to the Hindi film industry Bollywood. The Telugu movie industry is the biggest one in India , second being Bollywood. Among the South Indian Movies Telugu Industry is the Bigger one In terms of Movies Released and The Revenue generated. The Telugu Movie Industry is Based in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. Most of the Studios and Film work happens in the Capital City of A.P that is Hyderabad. The Total number of movies released in the year 2006 is 243 and in 2008 is 275 , and Hopefully more than that in 2009. So a year by growth . We can say that minimum of 3 movie releases every week. The annual turn over increases every year. The movies budget and strategies of promotions keeps on changing depending upon the actor and time of release. Most of the Movies are released at the time of holidays or Festive Season ( Sankranthi, Ugadi, Dussera) . The huge collection gets up in this season only. And, Most of the top Actors movie gets released at this time only. It accounts 1% in the gross domestic Product of Andhra Pradesh.
The Telugu Film Industry got Initiation in the year of 1921 by the release of the movie Bhisma Pratingya which was a silent movie. Which gave a Idea to the Telugu audience about the Movies. The Film was Produced By Mr. RaghuPati Venkaiah and his son, Both of them started producing the movies every year by taking the theater Artists into account. They Mainly focussed on the regional Stories. The First audible movie for Telugu people was Bhakta Prahalad, Which was produced by Mr. H.M.Reddy . A story on the back drop of Mythology. It became Popular as "Talkies". Then it has opened the door for others to move into the industry. in the year 1934 the audience had a taste of huge success of the movie "LavaKusa". then its the time to young talent to reach the Industry for the taste. Then on by taking care of Mythology, Social Factors and More the Telugu Film Industry has shown its talent to the people. The number of movies got released from the year 1937- 1946 is 96, which was a huge number. Then the Movie "Balanaggama" gave a path for the fantasy movies , which was done in the Gemini Studios . So then on its the time to do the movies in Studios and release the movies. After this the movies , Stories, Actor & Actress , last but not Least technology has taken the growth path. The movies met the Expectations of audience and so on.
The great Actor and Actress of the Industry can be N.T.Rama Rao, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Sobhan Babu, Krishna, Savithri, Suha Sini, JayaSudha,Cheeranjeevi,BalaKrishna,Venkatesh,Nagarjuna, Jr.NTR,mahesh Babu, Prabhas and so on. If we keep going like this then there are so many actor and actress who have dedicated their whole life for the Industry. Like every Industry this industry also produces and releases or makes all kinds of movies. These great actors have a huge fan following . Because of this , the movies released in the festive seasons to have more collection and to give a complete entertainment to the Audience. There are mainly Five Studios where movies are made , Those are Sarathi, Ramoji Film City, Ramanaidu, Annapurna, Padmalaya studios.
Apart from these , The Budget of the movie always depends upon the lead actor of the movie and the Story . So, the minimum budget of the movie is 5 crores . And there are some of movies which are being done less than that and a huge multiplication of that too.
Coming to the Awards, the honored Award is Nandi Award (From AP Govt.), Telugu film Fare Awards, Raghupati Venkaiah Awards, Santosham Awards, Cine MAA Awards. So these are the awards which are given on the basis of performance. And, there are more than 30 channels which always keeps on alert for the movies to the public. So, even media plays a great role here.
If we discuss then there a lot of information is left. So to conclude this " The industry which gives a great Entertainment to the Audience of Andhra Pradesh is -"Tollywood."
About Author / Additional Info:
An MBA from GITAM University, India.