HYDERABAD, India. India's booming parallel film industry rivals Bollywood musicals and action films and has taken the world by storm: It's called Tollywood.
Like Mumbai for Hindi (or Bollywood) films, the southern Indian city of Hyderabad is for films made in Telugu, one of the country's most widely spoken languages. Tollywood films like RRR and Baahubali have received international recognition both at the box office and on the awards stage.
The Telugu film industry, popularly known as Tollywood, is one of the many regional centers of film production in India. But it attracted national and global audiences with its thrilling adrenaline-pumping action sequences, mythical storylines and majestic visual style. It has carved out its own identity, distinct from Hindi-language Bollywood, leaning towards star-studded spectacles and large-scale epics.
Tollywood mainly operates in Hyderabad, where Ramoji Film City is located. Recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's largest film studio complex, the 1,666-acre (674-hectare) site is home to massive film studio complexes, dozens of production facilities, warehouses, film sets and post-production facilities. The industry produces about 300 films annually—fewer than Bollywood, but still enough to make it one of India's largest regional industries.
Tollywood's growing prominence has been largely fueled by the coronavirus pandemic, as the rapid expansion of streaming services in India has allowed regional films to find a wider audience. The expansion also coincides with Bollywood's struggle to lure audiences back to theaters amid repeated storylines and rehashes of hits from other languages.
What has also worked in Tollywood's favor is that it offers a rare balance of high-octane action films and subtle films filled with real human drama.
“Telugu people are very interested in cinema. Telugu audience watches and accepts all kinds of films. They are film lovers,” says TV filmmaker Ravi Narayan, who is working on a biopic based on the 18th-century social figure. “Because they are film lovers, be it Baahubali, Pushpa or RRR, be it big budget or small budget, be it realistic films, biopics or fantasy films, the audience accepts them.”
Tollywood is known for its high-energy storytelling, large-scale sets and grand spectacles that are heavy on visual effects. He often combines family drama, action and mythology in films that are increasingly marketed as “pan-Indian” releases and dubbed into several regional languages.
These films, like other major Indian productions, have crowd-pleasing visuals and feature viral songs and dances that are central to the narrative and are usually presented as grand set pieces.
Many Tollywood films are also being remade in Bollywood, which has become a proven formula for spreading Telugu cinema across India. Dubbing—where actors record a voice-over in Hindi or a professional voice-over artist replaces the track—is also a standard and proven practice that has made Tollywood more accessible.
The industry also produces small, low-budget films that tend to focus on stories rooted in Telugu culture. Most are set in rural areas and explore themes such as social issues, regional cultures and class inequality. Some of these films go straight to streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime, where they enjoy wide reach across India.
Many Tollywood film stars like Mahesh Babu, Allu Arjun, Prabhas, Ram Charan and NT Rama Rao Jr. have an almost god-like army of fans spanning several generations. Their film releases are often timed to coincide with regional religious festivals, and are preceded by heavily publicized music presentations and dance performances that are a spectacle in themselves. Such events are attended by tens of thousands of fans, as was recently the case with first look at Varanasi by S.S. Rajamouli.
The industry also gave rise to a popular culture of fan clubs, predominantly centered around male movie stars. Some fans are so passionate about their favorite stars that they often organize charity events and blood donation camps on their behalf. Fans often perform acts of literal worship by washing cardboard cutouts of male stars or statues with milk, a ritual usually reserved for Hindu gods.
In cinemas in Hyderabad, audiences routinely dance, whistle and throw confetti into the air during the screening of films. Outside in the city you can often see billboards with images of large stars.
Telugu cinema has also influenced regional politics as many actors have become popular politicians. In 1983, NT superstar 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 elections in the state, he became the chief minister.
Tollywood's rapid commercial success and audience acceptance over the past decade has changed the country's entertainment landscape and propelled regional cinema onto the global stage.
Much of its recent success has been attributed to director S.S. Rajamouli, who gives preference to outstanding characters and creative filmmaking. Rajamouli became an international name with RRR or Rise, Roar, Riot, his three-hour 2022 epic set in British India. The sweeping anti-colonial story has become one of India's biggest hits, a global streaming phenomenon that won an Oscar for Best Original Song. His two-part series Baahubali, released in 2015 and 2017, broke box office records in India, and a re-released version combining the two parts, Baahubali: The Epic, hit theaters around the world just last month.
“Varanasi” His upcoming adventure film, which combines time travel and Hindu mythology, is expected to release in 2027.
“We're setting out to do something very big that we're all excited about, and we're just hoping and praying that audiences around the world will, you know, embrace it as well,” says S.S. Karthikeya, one of the producers of Varanasi, who is also Rajamouli's son.
Like Bollywood, the Telugu film industry also generates revenue from theatrical releases, television and music rights, overseas distribution and brand partnerships. It is widely considered to be India's second highest-grossing film industry, second only to Bollywood.
Even though the industry is largely controlled by some of the region's powerful film families and businessmen who have power over the distribution and exhibition of films, huge marketing campaigns have spread Telugu films across India and beyond.
Dubbed releases, remakes in other Indian languages and collaborations between talent from other regional industries further position Tollywood releases as national events, with stars often also making money from profit-sharing agreements and brand endorsements.
– RRR (2022): An epic historical action film directed by Rajamouli, set in British India.
– Pushpa: The Rise (2021) and Pushpa 2: The Rule (2024): A two-part action thriller directed by Bandreddy Sukumar, chronicling the rise of workers in a brutal red sandalwood smuggling syndicate.
– Color Photo (2020): A period romantic drama film directed by Sandeep Raj.
— Baahubali: 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 based on the epic Mahabharata, directed by K.V. Reddy.
