Multi-starrers or Family Starrers .. ? - Special Focus

Telugu Film Industry prided itself on the abundant multi-starrers in the days of Superstar Krishna and Sobhan Babu. Having multiple established actors act in a single title meant a great deal of income for the producer. The actors too were sporting enough to act in the same movies with their peers. These were times when no one had unprofessional egos. Actors of this generation are known for their egos. Their main concern has always been to satisfy their fans and the image they portray. Artistic concerns took a hit.

Recently, Milk boy Mahesh Babu and Victory Venkatesh broke away from this current trend when they cast aside their egos, if any, to act in the Blockbuster Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu (SVSC). This movie boasted of increased openings and greater collections bolstering the industry’s belief in multi-starrers. Thanks to the grand success of this film we now see a series of multi-starrers popping up. These multi-starrers have a quite different ring to it. The multi-starrer movies now will see actors from the same acting family share screen space.

‘Mega Ram Charan’s much anticipated movie ’Yevadu’ will see him share screen space with cousin ‘Stylish star’ Allu Arjun. The audio launch event saw a new series of trailers which seemed to indicate that Allu Arjun will be part of the cast. While the length and purpose of his character are being kept under the wraps, the director does mention that Arjun’s character will be a pivotal character and will be essential to introduce a plot twist. Arjun has already completed shooting for his portions and unit members hint that these parts will be highlights of the film.

It's not just the mega family, but also the Akkineni family who are bringing their own family multi-starrer. Vikram Kumar of ‘Ishq’ fame is directing a movie that boasts of three generations of the Akkineni family in the star cast. ANR, ‘King’ Nagarjuna and Chaitu will be seen together sharing screen space for the first time in this film. The director comments further that this casting was essential to the script and the Akkineni stalwarts have been gracious enough to consent to this.

‘Dialogue King’ Mohan Babu and family are also not far behind. Currently the Manchu family is also making preparations for a movie that includes the Manchu family stars in the cast. The exact details of this movie are yet to be fully announced. One thing is clear; the producers are going to sing their way to the bank if this trend continues. Having multiple stars in a single movie surely increases the production costs but it increases the revenue proportionally as well. This is a welcome trend that will surely change the face of Telugu cinema and usher in a renewed trend of heroes who are devoid of any egos. No doubt, the audience surely wants to see more and more multi-starrers.