Trendy titles for Tollywood films
Telugu films with English titles are becoming quite commonplace, with filmmakers arguing that they attract the audience.
MCA, MLA, KGF, RX100, F2, 24 Kisses, ABCD and KS100 are not brand names of any products. These are in fact, titles of Telugu films, some upcoming and some of which have already released. Tollywood films with English titles seems to be the latest trend in the industry, with many of them tasting success.
“When I initially put the title F2, people did not understand it, so we added the tagline Sankranti Allullu to make it clearer. Of course, once people saw the movie, they felt that the title was apt,” says Anil Ravipudi, asserting that the English title attracted people’s attention to the film.
“If you give a poetic title like Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu, it automatically attracts the audience, but I chose a different one like F2 to get people thinking about it first,” he says. Interestingly, several of Anil’s earlier films have also had English titles like Supreme and Raja The Great.
In Tamil Nadu, the government gives sops to filmmakers who choose Tamil titles for their films. But since there are no similar discounts here, filmmakers are free to choose whichever title they want.
“If they give some kind of discount, then many would stick to Telugu titles. But today, with other film industries looking at our films, we need a title that we don’t have to change. That may be why we choose English titles,” explains Ajay Bhupathi, the director of RX100.
“I feel that the title is apt for my story and I know that it attracts the youth more than the family audience. More importantly, you don’t need to change the title for other languages,” shares Ajay, whose next film with Telugu title Maha Samudram will be announced soon.
Many of Tollywood’s sensible directors have also chosen English titles for their films. Take the case of Sekhar Kammula, who made films like Happy Days and Life Is Beautiful even though the posters carried the titles in Telugu. Others simply chose to keep it as KGF, MCA or RX 100.
Similarly, director Puri Jagannadh has also made films with English titles like Idiot, Businessman, Loafer, Super and Heart Attack, but most of the titles were written in Telugu on the posters.
“Nowadays, everyone, including the lower-class people speak some English words, so there’s nothing wrong in using an English title. In fact, I think it makes the film more attractive to the audience,” says director and producer Madhura Sridhar, who is currently producing his upcoming film titled ABCD.
Interestingly, many of his earlier films also have English titles. “Yes, I generally prefer English titles like It’s My Love Story, Back Bench Student, Ladies and Gentlemen, Fashion Designer S/o Ladies Tailor, and now my upcoming film, ABCD,” he says, adding, “The theatrical trailer is very important as it describes everything about the film, after which the audience decides its fate.
For example, F2 attracted a family audience while RX100 did not, so it’s purely based on the content, not on the title.”
Madhura Sridhar believes that in the coming days, one can see a lot more English titles for Telugu films. “It’s now a trend in Tollywood and I am expecting more English titles,” he says.