Tollywood is the only film industry that recovered at a fast pace after the first wave of coronavirus came to an end. Several notable films released early this year and some of them minted huge money at the box-office when other film industries are completely shut. With the second wave of pandemic calming down, several actors and directors are keen to return back to the work. With the relaxations imposed in Telangana, the shoots of several films resumed recently. Maruthi is the first one to start the shoot and he is currently filming a small flick with Santosh Shobhan in the lead role.

Nithiin resumed the shoot of Maestro from today and the pending shoot is expected to be completed by the end of this month. Naga Chaitanya and Samantha are returning back to work from the third week of this month and they will resume the shoots of Thank You and Shaakuntalam. SS Rajamouli is planning the schedules of RRR currently and the shoot of the film will resume from the first week of July. Both NTR and Ram Charan will join the sets and will complete the shoot of the film.

Megastar Chiranjeevi is expected to complete Acharya in July. Balakrishna wants to resume the shoot of Akhanda from the end of this month. Allu Arjun will resume the shoot of Pushpa from July 1st. Prabhas is expected to resume the shoot of Adipurush in Mumbai from next week.

Venkatesh is expected to resume F3 in July. Ravi Teja will complete the pending song of Khiladi in July. Several other Tollywood films are expected to resume work in July. Tollywood is expected to return back to work from July completely.

The coronavirus pandemic did not impact the paycheque of our star actors and directors. Each and every actor signed new projects during this pandemic season. Right from Megastar Chiranjeevi to Ram Charan and NTR to Nani, every actor listened to new scripts and are gearing up with a strong lineup of projects for the next two years.

Here is the lineup of our Tollywood actors:

Chiranjeevi: Acharya, Lucifer remake, Vedhalam remake and Bobby’s film.
Balakrishna: Akhanda, Gopichand Malineni’s film, Anil Ravipudi’s film.
Venkatesh: Naarappa, Drishyam 2, F3. Tharun Bhascker’s film.
Nagarjuna: Praveen Sattaru’s film, Bangarraju.
Prabhas: Radhe Shyam, Adipurush, Salaar, Nag Ashwin’s film, Siddharth Anand’s film, Prashanth Neel’s project.
Pawan Kalyan: Ayyappanum Koshiyum remake, Hari Hara Veera Mallu, Harish Shankar’s film, Surendar Reddy’s film.
Mahesh Babu: Sarkaru Vaari Paata, Trivikram’s project, SS Rajamouli’s film.
NTR: RRR, Koratala Siva’s film, Prashanth Neel’s film, Buchi Babu’s film.
Ram Charan: RRR, Acharya, Shankar’s film.
Allu Arjun: Pushpa, Icon, Pushpa 2, Boyapati Srinu’s film.
Ravi Teja: Khiladi, Sarath Mandava’s film.
Nani: Tuck Jagadish, Shyam Singha Roy, Ante Sundaraniki, Srikanth’s project.
Ram: Lingusamy’s film, AR Murugadoss’ project.
Varun Tej: Ghani, F3, Venky Kudumula’s film, Trinadha Rao Nakkina’s film.
Vijay Devarakonda: Liger, Shiva Nirvana’s film, Sukumar’s film
Sai Tej: Republic, Karthik Dandu’s film.
Rana Daggubati: Viraata Parvam, Ayyappanum Koshiyum remake, Milind Rau’s film, Hiranyakashyapa
Naga Chaitanya: Thank You, Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha,
Sharwanand: Maha Samudram, Aadavallu Meeku Joharlu
Gopichand: Pakka Commercial
Kalyanram: Bimbisara, Mythri Movie Makers project.
Nithiin: Vakkantham Vamsi’s film, Powerpeta
Nikhil: 18 Pages, Karthikeya 2.
Sundeep Kishan: Gully Rowdy.
Allari Naresh: Vijay Kanakamedala film.
Naga Shaurya: Varudu Kaavalenu, Lakshya, Police Vari Hecharika, Anish Krishna’s film.
Vaisshnav Tej: Gireesayya’s film, Annapurna Studios project
Akhil Akkineni: Agent.
Adivi Sesh: Major, HIT 2, Goodachari 2.
Sudheer Babu: Sreedevi Soda Center, Aa Ammayi Gurinchi Meeku Cheppali.
Naveen Polishetty: UV Creations project.
Rajasekhar: Sekhar, Marmaanuvu
Vishwak Sen: Paagal, Oh My Kadavule remake.
Allu Sirish: Prema Kadanta
Manchu Vishnu: D and D
Anand Devarakonda: Pushpaka Vimanam
Santosh Shobhan: Prem Kumar, Maruthi’s film, Nandini Reddy’s film.

The Indian cinema started looking towards Tollywood after the smashing hit of Baahubali. Telugu cinema erased the barriers of languages and so many super hit Telugu movies are remade in other languages. Some of the Telugu actors are all set to test their luck through a pan-Indian release soon. Actors like Allu Arjun, Ram, Bellamkonda Sreenivas, Sai Tej and others are enjoying a terrific craze across the small screen in the north Indian circuits as their films are getting record views on tv and youtube.

Allu Arjun enjoys a huge fanbase in Kerala and he is keen to expand his market in Tamil Nadu with Pushpa. Ram too signed a bilingual in the direction of Lingusamy to expand his market in Tamil. Sharwanand and Siddharth starter Maha Samudram will have a simultaneous Tamil release along with Telugu. Several Telugu actors are now signing bilinguals or multi-lingual films so as to expand their market. The producers are betting big considering the profits if the films fare well. Pan Indian releases and multi-lingual releases are the latest trends of Telugu cinema.

The second wave of coronavirus seems to be calming down slowly and the Indian states are slowly lifting the restrictions and lockdown. For now, it is clear that the theatres would not reopen for the public in June and July. Several filmmakers are keen to restart the film shoots at the earliest. The government of Telangana is expected to lift the restrictions but the shoots will not be allowed for this month. Several filmmakers are keen to resume the shoot from July and complete the pending portions of the shoot.

If things turn normal and the vaccination drive gets intense, the Indian government and the state governments will grant permission for theatres. Tollywood has now hopes that the theatre business will resume in August. All the summer releases that are waiting for release will hit the screens from August. Tollywood biggies are expected to have a theatrical release for Dasara. For now, there is no clarity but Tollywood is keen to return back to business in the next two months.

The second wave of coronavirus brought a long pause for the theatres and the shoots of all the Indian films are now stalled. The most crucial summer season for the year is wasted. The producers are left in financial stress and there is no clarity about the release dates of the completed projects. The audience and film lovers had to spend time on the digital platforms as the theatres are shut. Films like Thankyou Brother, Cinema Bandi, Battala Ramaswamy Biopikku, Playback, Anukoni Athidi and Ek Mini Katha released on various digital platforms in the month of May.

Anasuya starter Thankyou Brother turned out to be a disappointment as it lacked the needed emotional connect. Cinema Bandi released on Netflix and it impressed the digital crowds big time. The sensible narration and the performances made Cinema Bandi an impressive one. Battala Ramaswamy Biopikku received a mixed response. The audience watched Playback and Anukoni Athidi on Aha. Top production house UV Creations backed a small film Ek Mini Katha. Though it could not appeal to the family crowds, Ek Mini Katha impressed the youth. After several digital releases in May, there are several films that are heading for a direct digital release in June.

With the lockdown imposed across the country, the theatres are shut and the shoots are stopped because of the widespread of coronavirus. Some of the completed films which are announced for summer release will now have to wait for a longer time for a theatrical release. Some of the analysts predict that the theatres would remain shut for this year as the audience are not in a mood to return to theatres without getting vaccinated. Going with the vaccination drive, it is impossible to vaccinate the population by the end of this year.

Some of the filmmakers approached the digital platforms for a direct digital release. Most of the digital giants are not ready to shell out huge amounts and acquire the digital rights. Some of them are in plans for a pay-per-view release plan. Some of the filmmakers are disappointed with the prices quoted by the digital firms and they decided to head for a theatrical release after the theatres are open. Some of them are in plans for a pay-per-view release plan to stay away from the financial stress.

For now, Venkatesh’s Drishyam 2 will head for a direct digital release on Amazon Prime soon. No other deals are closed for any Tollywood film.

The coronavirus pandemic brought a long break for film shoots and the busiest actors of Telugu cinema are spending time at home with their families. Several top directors worked on multiple scripts and locked top actors for their next films. Keeping the results of the current projects of the directors, Tollywood top actors changed paths and turned signing spree. Prashanth Neel turned a national sensation with KGF: Chapter 2. Even before the release of the sequel, Prabhas signed Salaar and commenced the shoot. Prashanth Neel will direct NTR’s 31st project which is announced today.

Prashanth Neel is also in talks with actors like Mahesh Babu and Allu Arjun. The actors are not much bothered about the results of the director’s current project and are signing films. NTR also announced Koratala Siva’s film even without listening to the script or the basic idea. The actors are just focused on the potential of the directors instead of the success. Trivikram will direct Mahesh soon and has films with Ram Charan, Allu Arjun and others. SS Rajamouli will direct Mahesh Babu soon. Ram Charan is in talks with Shankar and Sukumar. Pan Indian actor Prabhas is completely occupied till 2024. Tollywood actors have now changed paths and turned signing spree.

One super hit can bring ample craze and enough number of projects for young and beautiful actresses. Apart from movies, the top actresses are earning big through endorsements and digital promotions. Several young and successful actresses are receiving decent paycheques after they are inaugurating shopping malls. The paycheque ranges from Rs 5-10 lakhs depending on the stardom of the beauties. The entire process of inauguration completes in an hour. Top actresses had 3-4 such inaugurations in a month. But with the arrival of coronavirus, the doors are shut for these additional earnings for the actresses.

With huge financial crisis all over, several shopping malls decided to skip such inaugurations as they are not ready to pay huge amounts for the actresses. Several young actresses who relied on such events are now struggling for their earnings. Most of the small actresses who have no films in hand are struggling badly. Some of them depended on digital promotions to promote the brands. The earnings through these too are reduced for now. Apart from the top actresses, most of the young and upcoming beauties are now struggling to earning enough because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The second wave of coronavirus is having a massive impact on the country. The states are worried about imposing strict rules and guidelines as the country would not recover if there is another lockdown. The theatres are shut as there is no new content and the footfalls too turned minimal because of the scare. The Film Chamber issued new guidelines to be implemented on the sets of Telugu movies considering the widespread of coronavirus. The Film Chamber asked the shoots to be done with 50 cast, crew members.

Some of the big films of Tollywood are not following these guidelines and are continuing the shoots in these tense situations with hundreds of crew members. Some of them are not even following social distancing and no proper guidelines are taken on the sets. A Tollywood big-budget that features a star actor is shot in the outskirts of Hyderabad with more than 200 members on the sets. Though the unit members are using facemasks, the sanitizers are never used and the social distancing is ignored. The makers are keen to complete the shooting portions at the earliest risking hundreds of lives.

If the crew members are tested positive, the makers are keeping it under wraps and they are continuing the shoot. The lead actors and the top technicians are taking enough care but the daily wage workers and the assistants are ignored. The government too never interfered in the issue. Experts warn that the spread would be more severe in May. Tollywood should be extra cautious considering the situations and should stall the shoots for the next few weeks instead of taking big risks.

The second wave of coronavirus is spreading on a fast note and the shoots of several Telugu films are kept on hold after few of the crew members are tested positive for coronavirus. Some of the actors called off the shoots so as to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Top actors like Prabhas, Mahesh Babu, Chiranjeevi, Ram Charan, NTR and others are currently in home isolation. Few of the unit members from Sarkaru Vaari Paata are tested positive for coronavirus recently. Mahesh called off the shoot till the end of this month and he will take the call next month about the next schedule.

The personal stylist of Prabhas is tested positive for coronavirus and the actor is now in home isolation. He will take up the test for the coronavirus in the next couple of days. Ravi Teja is in home isolation after Khiladi director Ramesh Varma is tested positive for coronavirus. Ram Charan and NTR restricted themselves to their homes considering the new wave of coronavirus. The shoot of RRR is put on hold as of now. Chiranjeevi voluntarily called off the shoot of Acharya and a week’s shoot is left pending for now. Young actors like Nani, Naga Chaitanya are shooting for their upcoming projects. Tollywood is mostly shut after the attack of the second wave of coronavirus. Most of the actors decided not to take any risk and will continue to stay at home till the wave calms down.

Tollywood had a perfect lineup of films gearing up for summer release. With the arrival of second wave of coronavirus, all the plans are now shattered. Some of the films are now out of the summer race though there is no official confirmation. The makers of these films already informed the distributors about the same. Vakeel Saab is currently running with packed houses and the box-office run of the film in the second week is unpredictable as the cases are increasing in the Telugu states. The governments too are in plans to impose restrictions to have a control on the coronavirus spike.

Love Story is postponed for now and the makers of Tuck Jagadish are yet to take the final call. The entire Tollywood is now focused on the restrictions that would be announced by the governments. If the night curfew is imposed, it would be tough to screen four shows all over. Even the 50 percent occupancy rule would be manageable as there are ample number of screens available. But if the night curfews are implemented, the box-office numbers would be low because of the limited shows. The filmmakers as of now are waiting for the rules to be announced. As per the speculations, Chiranjeevi’s Acharya, Balakrishna and Boyapati film, Venkatesh’s Naarappa, Rana Daggubati’s Viraata Parvam are out of summer race.