On Friday, veteran filmmaker B Gopal attended the pre-release event of 'Veera Simha Reddy' as a special guest. It was commendable that Nandamuri Balakrishna feted him with his invite. Gopal, for the unversed, is the director who powered Telugu cinema in the late 1990s by making the blockbuster 'Samara Simha Reddy'. Later, his 'Narasimha Naidu' became another blockbuster, cementing the trend of factionist sub-genre. Jr NTR's hyper-aggressive films like 'Aadhi' and 'Simhadri' had a foundation built by Gopal.
Telugu cinema's pre-release events have been mostly about inviting big stars and, occasionally, political leaders. By inviting a craftsman who created a new trend, the makers of 'VSR' have floated a new idea.
In the coming months and years, many other Tollywood production houses and heroes are expected to follow the trend. In the age of franchise movies and cinematic multi-verse, we need to fete and pay a hat-tip to trend-setting filmmakers/writers/technicians by having them at pre-release events.
