#2018: From Sri Reddy To Samantha, the Top 6 Newsmakers of Telugu Cinema

Unlike previous years, Telugu cinema has witnessed some serious highs and severe blows in 2018 both on the professional and controversial front. While the small-budget medium managed to overtake the big-ticket stuff on several instances, talented directors & worthy actors made their presence count on the celluloid and lifted the standards of filmmaking in Tollywood. Most of the successful flicks in this 365-day period have been helmed by debutants.

Besides performances and box-office numbers, Telugu film fraternity hit the headlines in 2018 when Sri Reddy Mallidi made some shocking casting couch allegations on popular celebrities from the South. While Balakrishna announced a biopic on the greatest actor-cum-politician in the Telugu states, Vijay Deverakonda emerged as the new superstar with ‘Geetha Govindam’ and Adivi Sesh rocked it with ‘Goodachari’. The tragedy of the year came in the form of Nandamuri Harikrishna’s sudden demise.

From Sri Reddy to Samantha, here are the top 6 newsmakers of Telugu Cinema in 2018.

The small-time actress accumulated a lot of attention with her shocking accusations on the sexual exploitation of female actors in Tollywood. It all began with her stripping protest outside the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce when she was denied MAA (Movie Artists’ Association) membership. The entire controversy took a shocking turn when Sri Reddy accused Abhiram Daggubati (son of top producer Suresh Babu) of cheating and forcing sex on her in the name of providing movie opportunities. She has gone ahead and even released private photos of the two on social media.

From then on, Sri Reddy has been taking several names from the Telugu and Tamil film industries, and targeting them with sexual harassment allegations. She hasn’t left cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar either. Though the episode with Pawan Kalyan took a major political twist and proceeded in an entirely different way, she hasn’t given a break to her allegations on social media.

Though his maiden-solo film ‘Pelli Choopulu’ became a surprise hit at the box-office, it was Sandeep Vanga’s offbeat-drama ‘Arjun Reddy’ that turned the tables for Vijay Deverakonda in Telugu cinema. With a couple of blockbusters itself, the 29-year-old actor succeeded in creating an everlasting expression among the youth. He was majorly responsible for the stupendous success of his rom-com ‘Geetha Govindam’ which bagged over Rs 100 crore at the ticket counters.

Despite falling prey to piracy, his recent comedy-thriller ‘Taxiwaala’ managed to mint gold at the box-office. This emerging superstar of Tollywood enjoys solid popularity all over the South and is planning to go to Bollywood next year.

The phenomenal success of Adivi Sesh’s modern spy-thriller ‘Goodachari’ proved that Telugu cinema is no short of emerging talent. Helmed on a shoe-string budget of 6 crore, the Sashi Kiran Tikka directorial released to fantastic reviews from critics & viewers and has collected a worldwide gross of over 25 crore. Major credit of the film’s triumph goes to the lead actor Sesh who sweated it out in all the departments of the film.

Despite not boarding any A-list names or a mammoth budget, ‘Goodachari’ majorly worked because of its riveting tale, gritty and smart work by the entire team, and of course, the genre. Recently, popular filmmaker Karan Johar expressed his desire to remake the film in Bollywood.

Touted as the most-anticipated biopic in the history of Telugu cinema, the two-part biographical film on Senior NTR was officially launched by Nandamuri Balakrishna on 29th March 2018. Owing to creative differences, versatile filmmaker Krish Jagarlamudi had replaced Teja as the director and the entire film was shot in less than eight months. The theatrical trailer was recently released to a roaring response from all corners and there are massive expectations riding on this MM Keeravani musical.

Balakrishna seems to have nailed it in his father’s role by showcasing an equal measure of aggression & love, and Vidya Balan looked like a splitting image of NTR’s wife Basavatarakam. While ‘NTR Kathanayakudu’ is scheduled to hit the screens on January 9 as a Sankranthi treat, the sequel version ‘NTR Mahanayakudu’ will release on February 7.

The sudden death of actor-cum-politician Nandamuri Harikrishna in a tragic road mishap sent a shockwave across both the Telugu states. Son of Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (NTR) and father of popular hero Junior NTR; Harikrishna was driving to Kavali in Nellore district to attend a fan’s wedding in a high-end SUV. Suddenly, the four-wheeler hit a road median on the Nalgonda highway near Anaparthi and flipped over several times. Always preferring to drive on his own, the former MLA (61) succumbed to severe head injuries on the way to hospital. This was the second road accident in the family as Harikrishna’s elder son Janakiram passed away in the same manner in 2014.

Seems like Samantha is having the time of her life both personally and professionally, after her fairytale wedding with long-time boyfriend Naga Chaitanya! All her four films released in 2018 managed to fair well at the box-office with accolades to her performance as well. In this process, the 31-year-old heroine became the first ever South Indian actress to be a part of four $1 million films in the United States. She kicked off the year with Sukumar’s rustic-drama ‘Rangasthalam’ and followed it with Nag Ashwin’s biopic on the legendary Savitri titled ‘Mahanati’. While her solo Tamil release ‘Irumbu Thirai’ also reached the magic figure, she closed the year with the solid success of her bilingual ‘U Turn’. What a year to have for the beautiful diva.