A fast-rising parallel film industry in India is competing with Bollywood’s musicals and action-packed films and has taken the world by storm: It’s called Tollywood.
As Mumbai is to Hindi films — or Bollywood — the southern Indian city of Hyderabad is to movies made in Telugu, one of the country’s most widely spoken languages. Tollywood films like “RRR” and “Baahubali” have achieved international acclaim at the box office and on the awards stage.
What is Tollywood?
The Telugu-language film industry, widely known as Tollywood, is one of India’s many regional movie-producing centers. But it’s drawn national and global audiences with its high-adrenaline action movies, mythic storylines and grand visual style. It has carved out its own identity separate from Hindi-language Bollywood by leaning toward star-driven spectacle and large-scale epics.
Tollywood primarily operates out of Hyderabad, which is home to Ramoji Film City. The 1,666-acre (674-hectare) facility, recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s largest film studio complex, houses massive film studio complexes, dozens of production houses, warehouses, movie sets and post-production facilities. The industry churns out around 300 films every year — fewer than Bollywood but still enough to make it one of India’s largest regional industries.
Tollywood’s growing exposure was in large part sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, as the rapid expansion of streaming services in India allowed regional films to find wider audiences. That expansion also coincided with Bollywood’s struggle to lure audiences back to theaters amid repetitive storylines and rehashes of hits from other languages.
What has also worked in favor of Tollywood is that it offers a rare balance of high-octane action films and nuanced movies charged with real human drama.
“Telugu people have a lot of interest in movies. The Telugu audience watch and accept all kind of movies. They are cinema lovers,” says filmmaker T.V. Ravi Narayan, who is working on a biopic based on an 18th-century social activist. “Because they are cinema lovers, be it ‘Baahubali,’ ‘Pushpa’ or ‘RRR,’ be it big budget or small budget, be it realistic or biopics or fantasy movies, the audiences accept it.”
What kind of films are made in Tollywood?
Tollywood is known for its high-energy storytelling, big action set pieces and grand spectacle that are heavy on visual effects. It often blends family drama, action and mythology into movies, increasingly marketed as “pan-India” releases and dubbed in multiple regional languages.
The films, like other big Indian productions, have crowd-pleasing visuals and feature viral songs and dances central to the narrative and usually presented as grand performance set pieces.
Many Tollywood films are also remade in Bollywood, which has become a proven formula to expand Telugu cinema across India. Dubbing — where actors record voice-overs in Hindi or a professional voice artist replaces the track — is also a standard and tested practice that has made Tollywood more accessible.
The industry does also produce smaller, low-budget films that tend to focus on stories rooted in Telugu culture. Most of them are set in rural landscapes and explore themes such as social issues, regional cultures and class inequality. Some of those films are sent straight to streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime, where they enjoy a wide reach across India.
What is Tollywood fandom like?
Many Tollywood movie stars like Mahesh Babu, Allu Arjun, Prabhas, Ram Charan and N.T. Rama Rao Jr. command a near-godlike following, with devoted fan bases that cut across generations. Their movie releases are often tied to regional religious festivals and are preceded by carefully marketed music launch events and dance performances that are a spectacle in itself. Tens of thousands of fans attend such events, as they did recently with the first look of S.S. Rajamouli’s “Varanasi.”
The industry has also led to a massive fan club culture, predominantly centered around male film stars. Some fans are so invested in their favorite stars that they often organize charitable drives and blood donation camps in their names. It is not unusual for fans to perform acts of literal worship, washing male stars’ cardboard cutouts or statues with milk — a ritual usually reserved for Hindu gods.
In theaters across Hyderabad, viewers will commonly dance, whistle and throw confetti in the air during releases of films. Outside, billboards of major stars are a frequent sight in the city.
Telugu cinema has also influenced regional politics as many actors have turned popular politicians. In 1983, superstar N.T. Rama Rao successfully defeated the Congress Party, led by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, within nine months of founding the regional Telugu Desam Party. After sweeping state elections, he became the chief minister.
What’s driving Tollywood’s recent success?
Tollywood’s rapid commercial success and audience acceptance over the past decade has reshaped the country’s entertainment landscape and pushed regional cinema further onto the world stage.
Much of its recent success has been credited to filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli, who favors larger-than-life heroes and imaginative filmmaking. Rajamouli became an international name after “RRR,” or “Rise, Roar, Revolt,” his 2022 three-hour epic set in British India. The sprawling anti-colonial tale became one of India’s biggest hits, a global streaming phenomenon that won an Oscar for best original song. His two-part “Baahubali” series, released in 2015 and 2017, broke box-office records in India and a reedited version combining the two parts, “Baahubali: The Epic,” released in cinemas worldwide just last month.
“Varanasi,” his upcoming adventure film that blends time-travel and Hindu mythology, is expected to release in 2027.
“We set out to do something very big that we all are excited about, and we just hope and pray that audiences across the world you know, embrace it as well,” says S.S. Karthikeya, one of the producers of “Varanasi,” who is also Rajamouli’s son.
What kind of business do Tollywood films do?
Just like Bollywood, the Telugu film industry also draws its revenue from theatrical releases, television and music rights, overseas distribution and brand partnerships. It is widely regarded as India’s second-highest-grossing film industry, trailing only Bollywood.
Even though the industry is largely controlled by some regionally influential film families and businessmen that have power over movie distribution and screenings, huge marketing campaigns have carried Telugu films across India and beyond.
Dubbed releases, remakes in other Indian languages and talent collaborations across other regional industries have further positioned Tollywood releases as national events, with stars often raking money from profit-sharing arrangements and brand endorsements as well.
What are some must-watch Tollywood films?
— “RRR” (2022): An epic period action drama film directed by Rajamouli that is set in British India.
— “Pushpa: The Rise” (2021) and “Pushpa 2: The Rule” (2024): A two-part action flick directed by Bandreddi Sukumar that follows the rise of laborer in a violent red-sandalwood smuggling syndicate.
— “Colour Photo” (2020): A period romantic drama film directed by Sandeep Raj.
— “Bahubali: The Beginning” (2015) and “Baahubali 2: The Conclusion” (2017): A two-part action epic directed by Rajamouli about a warrior and his battle to reclaim his kingdom.
— “Mayabazar” (1957): A classic that draws from the epic Mahabharata, directed by K.V. Reddy.
