Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday said on the floor of the Assembly that Telugu films are working only if the hero speaks in the Telangana slang these days. "There was a time when the Telangana language would be spoken only by jokers (comedians)," the TRS supremo said, suggesting that Telangana's cultural references like Pochamma and Bathukamma have increasingly been used in Telugu movies since the creation of Telangana.
In recent years, actors like Vijay Deverakonda, Naveen Polishetty and Siddhu Jonnalagadda have made a name for themselves by speaking in one or the other Telangana dialect. 'Jathi Ratnalu' and 'DJ Tillu' had the main leads speak entirely in the Telangana language. 'iSmart Shankar', which had Ram Pothineni speak in the language, was a blockbuster.
Directors such as Sandeep Reddy Vanga of 'Arjun Reddy' fame have also done their bit in this regard. Comedians like Rahul Ramakrishna and Priyadarshi have also spoken in the slang in film after film. Earlier, only a Venu Madhav or Narsing Yadav would use the Telangana dialect.
But it's not true that only Telangana-based movies are becoming blockbusters. 'Pushpa', 'Rangasthalam' and 'Aravindha Sametha' were based in Rayalaseema/Andhra.
