About a month ago, the Telugu movie The Paradise became all the rage, having stirred controversy and curiosity over two scenes featuring a character modelled on Bharat Rashtra Samithi supremo and former Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. It was a typical ‘buzzy’ movie that stays in the news for one reason or another.
But just about a month before The Paradise’s release, another important film had come out. It fell through the cracks and was a flop in terms of box-office collections. Yet I would say that Pallaburusu (The Toothbrush) is probably a milestone in Tollywood.
The pity is that even many people who watch Telugu movies regularly have not heard of Pallaburusu, due to limited screenings and because it coincided with other releases such as Vishwanath & Sons (a Tamil movie that was also released in Telugu states).
I honestly wouldn’t have heard of it either, but ended up watching it after getting in touch with its creative producer, Adhip Iyer (thanks to a common friend). As someone who barely watches Telugu cinema or avoids watching it in theatres (because I am not a fan of commercial action films and love stories), I hope that every single Telugu person watches it.
It is possibly one of the best movies I have seen this entire year. The movie’s theme is so simple: a father wanting his son to buy him a toothbrush. Yet it touches upon human relationships in a way that would make anyone rethink their social surroundings. It’s also a must-watch for us city people, who forget that there exists a world where people still rely on each other for support and where community matters.
It reminded me of some of the best Tamil (like Mandela) and Malayalam movies (The Great Indian Kitchen) that I watch from time to time because I am generally unable to find realistic movies in Tollywood or even Bollywood.
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An untapped market
I understand that ‘masala’ or action movies work, but I believe realistic movies are also important for talking about social issues and holding up a mirror to society. Let’s face it, Telugu movies rarely move away from the archetypal hero or a typical love story.
Which is why Pallaburusu is a breath of fresh air — it’s one of the most accurate portrayals of rural life in Telangana that I have seen in a long time. In my previous column, I praised The Paradise (despite it being too loud and lacking dialogue) for capturing the spirit of Telangana’s struggle, but it could honestly take a cue from Pallaburusu.
Backed by actor Nagarjuna’s production house, Pallaburusu has also been praised by filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who called it “unmissable”. In my conversation with Adhip that followed, we came to the conclusion that Pallaburusu would have done better in theatres if it had better support from exhibitors in terms of show timings. It is, however, slowly finding its audience on Amazon Prime from what I can understand.
It’s not that such Telugu movies haven’t done well in the past. They don’t come by often, but it would also be wrong to say that art cinema or realistic movies don’t have a market. The movie, in fact, reminds me of C/O Kancharapalem, directed by Maha Venkatesh, Pelli Choopulu (directed by Tarun Bhaskar) and even Middle Class Melodies (released on OTT during the Covid pandemic).
Beyond these three, however, it was difficult for me to think of other names in recent years. I’ve had these conversations with many of my friends who work in Tollywood, including a few actors. It seems to be a case of people at the top following a certain ‘formula’, or a tried-and-tested system of making commercially successful films.
Iyer, however, says that now there seems to be a growing interest among the big production houses in backing smaller films.
“Small-budget movies are driven entirely by the quality of the story. They don’t have the huge recovery margin risks that affect mega-budget films. So it can be said that a small movie with a really good story and treatment has the better odds to do really well,” he told me.
He has a point. C/O Kancharapalem was made on a shoestring budget of less than 1 crore, but it made 10 times more than that.
Movies like that and Pallaburusu clearly have a market, but seemingly not enough people are interested in making them. Actor Vishnu Oi, whom I also spoke to, said that realistic movies are not made very often, partly because of broader audience preferences for commercial films.
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Real stories from Telangana
With Telangana becoming a separate state in 2014, there is a sense of identity that people here are seeking. So we could expect more movies like Pallaburusu to come out. Given that the state has a history of class struggle (against feudal landlords, as shown in The Paradise), it makes sense for more realistic cinema to reflect that.
Oi, in fact, said something very interesting: even big Telugu stars like Pawan Kalyan have tried making such movies in the past, like Johnny (2003), but they haven’t worked (Johnny was a box-office disaster).
“Pelli Choopulu and C/O Kancharapalem have been backed by independent producers before going to studios. Others would be interested in making stuff like The Paradise with bigger sets,” he pointed out.
The chances of more movies like Pallaburusu being produced regularly are still slim. However, it was one of the few times I sat and watched an entire movie without any distraction. It shows that Tollywood can compete with other South Indian film industries when it comes to art or realistic cinema. Hopefully, there will be more such movies.
Yunus Lasania is a Hyderabad-based journalist whose work primarily focuses on politics, history and culture. He tweets @YunusLasania. Views are personal.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)