My earliest exposure to Telugu films was when watching Doordarshan in the 1980s-90s. The images of Chiranjeevi in purple pants and purple shirts singing in meadows with equally colourful heroines are etched in my mind.

At the time, the mere mention of Telugu movies would bring forth laughter from everyone around me. I cringe. I feel so terrible now, thinking back on these misinformed reactions.

“Oh, their clothes!”

“Funny-sounding language!”

Why was Govinda less cringey than them? Why was the language “funny”? I’ll never know.

Growing up, I absorbed these comments and ignored Telugu cinema. Instead, I lost myself in slick English movies, intense world cinema, and the strong storylines of Malayalam, Kannada, and Tamil films.

Then, in 2015, Baahubali burst on to the scene putting Telugu cinema into the consciousness of modern cinephiles. Even the ones who made fun of Telugu now ardently watched Baahubali and rattled off the plot twists happening in the kingdom of Mahishmati. I tried watching it but got put off by a lot of things (let’s not get into it, Baahubali fans), and couldn’t go beyond the first half an hour.

When I told this to a close college friend of mine, who is Telugu, she nodded sagely, “Eh, forget Baahubali. Watch Yevade Subramanyam. You’ll love it.”

Yevade Subramanyam is the story of an ambitious man, Subramanyam or Subbu (Nani), focused on climbing the social and corporate ladder. His well-laid plans, however, go awry when his childhood friend, Rishi (Vijay Devarakonda), returns to his life. Rishi is a free-spirited soul who revels in traveling and doing odd jobs along the way to support himself. Subbu resents his insistence on accompanying him to a place called Doodh Kasi, a sacred lake high up in the Himalayas. Things change when Rishi dies in an accident, and Subbu and their friend Anandi decide to go to Doodh Kasi for Rishi.

Back in 2015, when my friend summarised the story for me I felt drawn to it instantly. There was no plethora of OTTs then, and there was no way I could get an English-subtitled version of the movie. But it had stayed in my mind.

A year later, the runaway success of Pelli Choopulu, which scooped up 2 National Awards, caught my attention. This time, I managed to find an English-subtitled version, and I immensely enjoyed the movie.

I don’t know why I didn’t stay with that enjoyment and explore more. It took more than 5 years after Pelli Choopulu for me to really start appreciating Telugu movies. No, it wasn’t RRR. It was so bad that I remember spending one night during the Christmas holidays with family, a couple of years back, rolling over in laughter at some of the scenes. Sorry, RRR fans, again, let’s not go there.

I have OTT to thank for reprising and cementing my interest. I watched Ante Sundaraniki on Netflix because Netflix said “we think you’ll love these”. It then proceeded to repeatedly recommend it to me till, half annoyed, half intrigued, I checked the storyline. Okay, it has Nazriya Nazim, I thought as I sought comfort in familiarity, and gave it a shot. Turns out, Netflix knew what I liked better than me. Then, I watched Kumari Srimathi, starring Nithya Menen, a TV drama on Prime.

By this time, my interest had deepened. As I started ‘catching up’ and watched some of the contemporary hits, I realised I liked the refreshing stories and likeable characters that resonated with real life. I particularly love Nani with his slice-of-life stories and Adivi Sesh for his investigative thriller plots. Oh, and excellent performances all round.

Apart from travel, movies, music, and books are like roti, kapda, makaan for me. They are the prized spot in my comfort zone. They show me the world in ways nothing else does. They show me places I might never physically get to travel to and tell me stories that I might never hear otherwise.

Now, it gives me great joy to know that I have a whole new world to discover.

I leave you with a few recommendations from some of the Telugu movies that I’ve watched in recent times. Fair warning, these will lean heavily towards Nani and Adivi Sesh🤭

• HIT parts 1 and 2 (eagerly awaiting part 3 which will release this year)
• Goodachari (again, eagerly awaiting a sequel release promised this year)
• Evaru
• Lucky Baskhar
• Mahanati
• Hi Nanna
• Saripodha Sanivaaram
• Brochevarevarura
• Shyam Singha Roy