Hrithik, Saba bakal berkahwin

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(Tamil actor & comedian) Senthil Family:-

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(Tamil actor & comedian) Goundamani Family:-

Veteran Tamil comedian Goundamani's wife, Shanti, passed away at the age of 67 in Chennai on May 5, 2025.

1. With wife.
2. With wife, son & Sathyaraj's daughter.

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(Tamil actress) Shamili Family:-

1. Baby photos of Shamili with her sister Shalini.
2. Shamili & sister Shalini as adults.
3. With mother, brother Richard Richi & family.

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(Tamil actress) Varalakshmi Sarathkumar Family:-

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(Tamil actress) Anu Hasan Family:-

1. With parents & uncle Kamal Hassan.
2. With sister Suhasini & husband.
3. With husband.

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(Tamil actress) Suhasini Family:-

1. With family.
2. With extended family.
3. With Uncle Kama Hassan & family.
4. With husband Movie Director Maniratnam.
5. With son.
6. With daughter.

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Jackie Shroff Family:-

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Anushka Shetty Family:-

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(Kannada actor) Yash Family:-

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Sonam Kapoor Family:-

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Sushmita Sen Family:-

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(Telugu actor) Pawan Kalyan Family:-

1. Family Tree.
2. With mother & siblings.
3. With eldest brother, Chiranjeevi.
4. With his 3rd wife & children.

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Why is the Ambani Family so important to Bollywood?

The Ambani family is crucial to Bollywood due to their immense financial power, strategic investments in media (like Reliance's entertainment ventures), and deep social ties, elevating the industry's scale, global reach, and production quality while also blurring lines between business and entertainment, making them significant patrons and influencers who shape content and opportunities for stars and platforms alike.

Reliance Industries, led by Mukesh Ambani, has invested heavily in media and entertainment, merging with Disney's India operations to become a dominant digital streaming force, funding big-budget projects and platforms like Netflix.

The Ambani's partner with major studios (like Dharma Productions) and provide crucial capital, enabling ambitious storytelling and large-scale productions.

The Ambani's lavish weddings and events, attended by global superstars, act as massive PR showcases, solidifying their status and drawing international attention to India's entertainment scene.

The Ambani family hosts events that bring together Hollywood and Bollywood elites, facilitating international collaborations and bridging cultural gaps.

As "new money," the Ambanis use Bollywood stars and events to gain cultural acceptance and elevate their own social standing, much like historical industrialists seeking societal integration.

Through Reliance, they are transforming content delivery (streaming) and bringing an international perspective to Indian cinema.

Their deep connections mean Bollywood actors and producers often align with Ambani interests, giving the family significant leverage and influence over the industry's direction.

In essence, the Ambanis are not just rich patrons; they are integral to Bollywood's infrastructure, funding its growth, shaping its digital future, and defining its cultural prominence both domestically and globally.

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The Ambani Family:-

The Ambani family's beloved pet golden retriever, Happy, recently passed away on April 30, 2025, leaving the family deeply saddened. Known for his luxurious lifestyle, designer outfits (like a custom silk jacket at Anant Ambani's wedding), and presence at family events, Happy was a cherished member, treated like family, and even participated in celebrations as the ring bearer.

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50 Most Interesting Facts About Bollywood:-

Indian cinema completed 100 years in 2013. This was quite the achievement. Here are 50 of the most interesting facts about Bollywood that you have not heard of before.

1. The first motion picture in India was ‘The Wrestlers’ screened in 1899 a portrait photographer called Harischandra Sakharam Bhatavdekar.
Image Credit: thesundayindian (dot) com
2. Ashok Kumar was a lab assistant in Bombay Talkies before he became an actor in 1936.

3. Director Subhash Ghai made a cameo appearance in ‘Aradhana’ (1969), which he anyway does for all his films.

4. Raj Thackeray wanted to make a film with Amitabh Bachchan in 2005.

5. Sunil Dutt was much more than the suave hero, he was quite the Bollywood baddie! The actor played the role of a dacoit in 20 movies in his career.

6. Waheeda Rahman played both mother and lover to Amitabh Bachchan. She played the love interest of Big B in ‘Adalat’ (1976) and mother in ‘Trishul’ (1978).

7. Dimple was only sixteen years old when Raj Kapoor introduced her in ‘Bobby’ (1973). She also got married to Bollywood superstar Rajesh Khanna at the age of 16. Despite the enormous success of ‘Bobby’, she then took a sabbatical from acting to raise her children.

8. ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ (1960) was a trilingual – with all scenes shot thrice in Hindi, Tamil and English. When the Tamil one flopped miserably, the English language one was aborted.

9. Raj Kapoor was superstitious and went off drinking as well as eating non-vegetarian food before the release of ‘Satyam Shivan Sundaram’ (1978).

10. Dilip Kumar was offered a lead role in the international project ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (1962) by director David Lean. However for reasons unknown, the actor declined the offer. The role subsequently went to Egyptian actor Omar Sharif.

11. Lata Mangeshkar's song ‘Ae Malik Tere Bande Hum’ from ‘Do Aankhen Barah Haath’ (1957) which was an original composition by Vasant Desai, was adapted by a Pakistani school as the school anthem.
12. Style diva Rekha wears only crimson or chocolate colored lipstick when making public appearances.

13. Actor Amjad Khan was almost dropped from ‘Sholay’ (1975) because scriptwriter Javed Akhtar found his voice weak for Gabbar Singh's role. Danny Denzongpa was approached for that role initially.

14. Amitabh Bachchan is so punctual that many a times he used to open the gates of Filmistan Studios himself for he used to reach the place before the watchman or gatekeeper.

15. ‘Silsila’ (1981) is the only movie in which Shashi played an elder brother to Amitabh. In all the other movies starring the duo, Amitabh has essayed the role of the elder sibling. The films include hits like ‘Deewar’, ‘Suhaag’, ‘Do Aur Do Paanch’ and ‘Namak Halaal’.

16. In his youth, actor Dharmendra was such a big fan of actress Suraiya that he walked miles to watch her film ‘Dillagi’ (1949) over 40 times.

17. Because the cinema industry was still considered a low profession in the 40s, music director Naushad was introduced by his parents to his bride as a tailor. And ironically, the music that played in his ‘baraat’ was from ‘Rattan’ (1944) – that had been composed by him.

18. Music director Madan Mohan, who was a very good cook, bribed Manna Dey with bhindi meat to make him sing one of his composition, ‘Kaun Aaya Mere Mann Dware’ in ‘Dekh Kabir Roya’ (1957).

19. Mohammad Rafi, who loved watching boxing, requested the organisers on his tour to Chicago to get him an appointment with Mohammad Ali. Otherwise a busy man, Ali proceeded to Rafi’s hotel room when he found out that the legendary Indian singer wanted to meet him.

20. Joy Mukherji learnt the dance to ‘Duniya Pagal Hai Ya Phir Main Deewana’ in ‘Shagird’ (1967) from a dancer in a Hong Kong nightclub. On his way to the shooting of ‘Love In Tokyo’, he visited the club and was very inspired by an energetic dancer in the club – he went up to her and asked her to teach him the steps.

21. Dharmendra’s fee when he debuted in 1960 in the movie ‘Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere’ was a meager 51 rupees.

22. Sunil Dutt initially used to be an RJ for Radio Ceylon and wanted to interview his favorite actress Nargis, but it had to be cancelled when he could not say a single word to her. Later, when he worked with her in ‘Mother India’ (1957), they fell in love and got married.

23. Jeetendra’s first film was ‘Navrang’ (1959), where he played Sandhya’s body double.

24. Meena Kumari was a poetess, and refused to show her works to her own poet husband, Kamaal Amrohi.

25. Devika Rani was the first actress with a degree in film-making.

26. In the film ‘Heroine’ Kareena Kapoor wore over 130 different dresses provided from top designers from all over the world. It has been reported that Kareena’s wardrobe for the film was one of the most expensive out of all the Bollywood movies ever created.

27. Saif Ali Khan was the original choice for Shahrukh Khan’s role in ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’. Even Tom Cruise was considered for the role of Raj Malhotra (SRK’s role in the film).

28. ‘Rockstar’ was shot in reverse order, with the climax being shot first. Reason: The makers did not want to disturb the continuity of Ranbir Kapoor’s hairstyle.

29. Anil Kapoor’s family lived in Raj Kapoor’s garage when they first moved to Mumbai. Later they shifted to a room in one of Mumbai’s middle-class suburbs.

30. When Sridevi was only 13, she played Rajinikanth’s stepmom in a Tamil film called ‘Moondru Mudichu’.

31. Raj Kapoor’s ‘Mera Naam Joker’ was the first Hindi movie to have two intervals.
32. Dev Anand picked up his movie titles and story lines from newspaper headlines and stories.

33. Hrithik Roshan once ordered 50 books online on ‘How to Stop Smoking’ and then gave them to all his friends.

34. The longest film in the world is also a Bollywood film. ‘LOC: Kargil’ is 4 hours and 25 minutes long and if you plan to catch this war saga, we recommend you’re sitting comfortably.

35. Shah Rukh Khan’s least favourite school subject was Hindi. To encourage SRK with his learning, his mother offered to take him to see a Hindi film if he improved.

36. The film ‘Lagaan’ by Aamir Khan has the most number of British actors playing a significant role in the entire history of Bollywood cinema.

37. Shekhar Kapur was originally engaged to be married to Shabana Azmi but then he realized that was a bad idea.

38. The ‘Khalnayak’ song ‘Choli Ke Peeche’ was protested by as many as 42 political parties

39. Salman Khan likes to collect soaps. In his bathroom, there is a collection of all kinds of handmade and herbal soaps. His favourites are soaps made from natural fruit and vegetable extracts.

40. Indians buy 2.7 billion movie tickets annually, the highest in the world. But average ticket prices are among the lowest in the world so revenues are a fraction compared to Hollywood.

41. For a country that is obsessed with films, there are still very few cinema screens. India has fewer than 13,000 screens compared with nearly 40,000 screens in the US.

42. The first foreigner to attain cult status in Bollywood was Australian-born Nadia, also known as the ‘Fearless Nadia’ or ‘The Hunterwali’ (the woman with the whip).

43. In the songs ‘Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hain‘ from ‘Dhadkan’, title song of ‘Deewane’ and ‘Neend Churayi Meri‘ from ‘Ishq’ we see the coming together of arch rivals Kumar Sanu and Udit Narayan.

44. The only time in the history of any Indian award, when the best female playback singer award was shared was between Ila Arun and Alka Yagnik for ‘Choli Ke Peeche’ in ‘Khalnayak’.

45. Akshay Kumar is superstitious. He will never write anything on a page unless he first heads it with an ‘Om’.

46. ‘Kaho Naa.. Pyar Hai’ was added to the Guinness Book of World Records 2002 edition for winning the most number of awards for a movie. The movie won a total of 92 awards.

47. During the making of ‘Sholay’, Dharmendra paid the light boys to make mistakes during shots, so that he could embrace Hema Malini again and again.

48. Dilip Kumar has won the most awards as the Best Actor with 8 awards spanning over 3 decades.

49. The song ‘Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyon’ in the film by the same name is the longest Hindi film song. The length of this iconic song is 20 minutes and the song is featured in three installments in the film.

50. Anurag Basu wanted Katrina Kaif originally to narrate the story in ‘Barfi!’ instead of Ileana D’Cruz. But the director had to go with the latter when Katrina refused due to unknown reasons.
For Bollywood fans, these tidbits of trivia might come as a surprise - offering interesting insight into the million-dollar industry as we know it.

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Tamil cinema (Kollywood):-
Tamil cinema, commonly referred to as Kollywood, is a vibrant filmmaking industry based in Chennai, India. The term Kollywood is a blend of the Kodambakkam neighborhood in Chennai and Hollywood, highlighting the industry's roots. While Indian cinema has a rich history spanning over a century, Tamil cinema has often been overshadowed by the more dominant Hindi film industry, Bollywood. However, in recent decades, Kollywood has emerged as a significant force in Indian cinema, producing high-quality films that have gained popularity both nationally and internationally.

The industry has a storied past, with its first feature film, Keechavathanam, believed to have been made in 1917, and the first sound film, Kalidas, released in 1931. Tamil films are characterized by their musical and dance elements, often adapted from mythology and folklore. The political landscape and social issues have been increasingly woven into film narratives since India gained independence in 1947. Kollywood has produced notable box-office hits, such as Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, which became one of the highest-grossing films in Indian history, along with other successful titles like 2.0, Jailer, and Ponniyin Selvan: I.
Despite challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Tamil cinema remains one of India's most prolific film industries, consistently producing around 240 films each year. The industry has also gained international recognition, with several films submitted for Academy Awards consideration, further solidifying Tamil cinema's position in the global film landscape.
Published in: 2024
By: Sheposh, Richard

Tamil cinema (Kollywood)
Tamil cinema refers to a thriving Tamil-language filmmaking industry based in the southeastern Indian city of Chennai. The industry is nicknamed Kollywood as a combination of its location in Chennai’s Kodambakkam neighborhood and the American film mecca of Hollywood. India has had a successful film industry for more than a century, with much of the focus on the Hindi-speaking films produced by Bollywood in Mumbai. Tamil cinema has been around for the same amount of time, but because Tamil is a minority language in India, it has often been overshadowed by Hindi films. However, in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, Kollywood films began to rival Bollywood in popularity and quality. One of the highest-grossing films in Indian film history—2017s Baahubali 2: The Conclusion—was produced by Kollywood.

India is the second-most populous nation in the world, with an estimated population of more than 1.3 billion. The nation has more than four hundred spoken languages with thousands of individual dialects. While the nation has no common language, the government recognizes twenty-two languages as official. Hindi is the main language used by the national government, with English also used for official purposes. Hindi is also the most common language in India, where it is spoken by about 45 percent of the population.

The Tamil language is a Dravidian language spoken mainly by Tamil people in southeastern India, Singapore, and Sri Lanka. Tamil was recognized as an official language in 2004. It is spoken by less than 7 percent of the Indian population. Tamil is the official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, a mostly urban region. The state’s capital, Chennai, is India’s sixth-largest city. Prior to 1996, Chennai was named Madras.

Films were introduced to India in 1896 when pioneering French filmmakers Auguste and Louis Lumière screened their work in Mumbai, which was then called Bombay. The following year, works by British filmmakers were screened in Madras. These first films were not traditional narrative-driven “movies” but were short clips of people going about their daily lives. The exhibitions fascinated Indians and inspired filmmakers across the country to begin making their own short films.
The first Indian feature-length film was Raja Harishchandra, which was directed by Dada Saheb Phalke in 1913. Raja Harishchandra was a silent film produced in the Marathi language. In 1917, director Nataraja Mudaliar made what is believed to be the first Tamil-language feature film.

Keechavathanam adapted a storyline from the Indian epic poem the Mahābhārata. Film scholars estimate that more than thirteen hundred silent films were made in Tamil. However, film preservation was not a priority in India at the time, and only fourteen of those films have survived to the present day.
The first Indian “talkie” was released in 1931 in the Hindi language. A few months after that film’s release, filmmaker H.M. Reddy debuted the first Tamil-language talking film, Kalidas. Kalidas was a biographical film about an ancient playwright of the same name. It starred actress T. P. Rajalakshmi, who was the most popular stage actress in India at the time. Rajalakshmi later became the first female director in Indian cinema, directing the film Miss Kamala in 1936. The first Tamil sound films had to be produced in studios in Bombay because southeastern India did not have adequate production facilities. That changed in the mid-1930s when director A. Narayanan opened the first film studio in Madras. Within three years, nine other studios were located in the city.
Most of the earliest Tamil-language films were filmed versions of existing stage plays. Most were adaptations of Indian mythology, folktales, and history. Over-the-top musical and dance elements were often a centerpiece of Tamil films. After India gained its independence from Great Britain in 1947, the tone of Tamil cinema shifted with political and social commentary often inserted into the main plots. It was not until 1954 that the first Tamil-language film, without a single song or dance number, was produced.

For much of the twentieth century, Mumbai (formerly Bombay) was the main hub of India’s film industry. The nickname Bollywood was coined around the 1960s and 1970s—a combination of Bombay and Hollywood. The Tamil-language film industry received the nickname Kollywood because its main production facilities are located in the Kodambakkam business district in Madras/Chennai. The 2018 Tamil film 2.0, a science-fiction film about a humanoid robot battling a scientist who uses people’s cell phones to attack the human population, was also successful at the global box office. At the time, it was the most expensive film in Indian film history, but it earned around USD$122.8 million. Other successful films include Jailer (2023), Leo (2023), and Ponniyin Selvan: I (2022).
Tamil films remained immensely popular in southeastern India but were often overshadowed by Bollywood. However, in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, Tamil-language films began to rival their Bollywood counterparts in production budgets, quality, and national popularity.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which devastated the industry, Kollywood was India’s third-largest film industry in terms of revenue, trailing Bollywood and the Kolkata-based Telugu-language film industry known as Tollywood. However, in terms of output, Kollywood consistently produces around 240 films each year, often outpacing India’s other major studios.

Many Tamil-language films have been submitted to the Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film. The coming-of-age drama Last Film Show (2022) was shortlisted for the 95th Academy Awards but ultimately did not receive a nomination. Films that received nominations in the past include Lagaan (2001), Salaam Bombay! (1988), and Mother India (1957).

The highest-grossing Tamil films include Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, a 2017 medieval epic inspired partly by the Smriti text Mahābhārata. The film was a follow-up to another film that experienced success in the global box office, Baahubali: The Beginning (2015), grossing USD$99.2 million. Baahubali 2: The Conclusion earned USD$257 million.

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Some Interesting Facts About This Epic Film in Kollywood Industry:-
Jeans was a game changer of Tamil cinema in 1998.

Tamil movie Jeans is a 28 year-old film? Yet this film remains as one of the favorite film of everyone. As we all know, this film, directed by the renowned Director Shankar, was one of the finest and biggest productions at the time.

The film’s full production took around a year and a half to finish and release. Unlike Shankar’s other films, Jeans was the first to have substantial portions of the film shot outside of India.

This film is well-known for its stunning visuals, but it is equally well-known for its soundtrack. AR Rahman, the Oscar winner, sculpted each song to perfection.

Let’s have a look at some of the interesting things you might not have known before:
1. Jeans was the most expensive film to be made in Indian cinema industry in 1998. The budget for this film is 20 crores which was a huge amount back then.

2. Director Shankar wanted Actor Goundamani to appear in a dual role which was played by Actor Nasser but due to the actor’s unavailability, the whole genre of the film was changed from comedy to romance.

3. The initial role for the lead was offered to Abbas and Ajith Kumar. Both, however, declined due to a lack of availability. Luckily, Prashant accepted the offer and even sacrificed 7 projects devoting a year and a half for jeans.

4. Janaki Sabash who acted as Aishwarya Rai’s mother in this film was actually only four years older than Aishwarya. (WOW!).

5. The total runtime of Visual FX in this movie was more than Jurassic Park (1993) and was featured in Guinness Book of World Records for some time.

Related:  Kollywood 2025: A Year of Unforgettable Celebrity Highlights
6. The film’s original title was “genes.” Later on, the producers realised that the term “genes” would not appeal to semi-urban and rural audiences. As a result, the film was renamed “jeans” to reflect its current popularity.

7. S.P Balasubramaniam was the original choice to play Aishwarya Rai’s dad in the film. The role eventually went to S.V Sekar.

8. The only Tamil song that feature all seven wonders of the world is from the film. In the song, Aishwarya Rai is referred to as the “eighth wonder.”

9. The film was India’s entry to the Oscars in the Best Foreign Language film category. But it did not make it to the final short list.

10. The movie won for a national award for best visual effects. Music by A.R. Rahman won a Filmfare award, while the film received four Tamil Nadu State Awards.

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Vikram Movie Trivia:-

Having collected more than a whopping Rs400 crores in box office collections worldwide (Rs300 crores in India alone), the action thriller directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj is also doing extremely well on Disney+ Hotstar, where it was released last weekend.

In a tweet, the streaming platform said that Vikram recorded the highest ever opening weekend viewership, subscription and watch time.

Here's a list of trivia about Vikram that you may not know about:-

The film brings together three National Award winners: Kamal Haasan, Fahadh Faasil, and Vijay Sethupathi. Kamal has four national awards under his belt, while Fahadh and VJS have one each.

Most of the guns used in the film are owned by Kamal, with proper licence. This is Kamal's first film after his foray into politics.

This is the first time the Ulaganayagan title card sequence has appeared for a film not directed by K.S Ravikumar. The director was responsible for giving Kamal the title.

Vikram is Kamal's first film released after a four-year-hiatus. He was last seen on the big screen in Vishwaroopam (2018).

Buoyed by the success of the film, Kamal gifted the director Lokesh a Lexus ES300h luxury sedan as a sign of appreciation.
It was reported that actor Suriya did not charge a single sen to appear in the brief yet impactful role as drug lord "Rolex Sir" at the end of the movie.

Kamal gave Suriya his own Rolex watch worth a whopping Rs47 lakhs. In addition, the veteran actor also gave the assistant directors of the movie, a motorcycle each.
While the Tamil version had 'Chacku Chacku Vathikuchi' from the 1995 movie Asuran played in two scenes, the Hindi version had the track changed to 'I am a disco dancer' from 1982 movie Disco Dancer.

Close to the intermission, Vijay Sethupathi's Santhanam character is seen wearing a partially broken sunglasses. This is believed to be a nod to the role of Sugirtharaja, the antagonist in the 1986 Vikram, played by Sathyaraj.

Vikram marks the beginning of director Lokesh's cinematic universiti, dubbed the Loki Cinematic Universe (LCU) by his fans, by incorporating characters and story line from his 2019 movie Kaithi.

Vikram was released on the same week as Top Gun: Maverick, starring Tom Cruise. Coincidentally, the first instalments of both Vikram and Top Gun were both released in 1986. Both sequels are super hits.
There you go, some facts about the super hit movie Vikram.

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Tollywood –Telugu Cinema in India:-

To most film fans, Indian cinema is synonymous with Bollywood, the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) known for its commercial films with melodramatic plots, song-and-dance numbers, star-crossed lovers, mustache-twirling villains, and prostitutes with hearts-of-gold.

But South Indian cinema has been thriving for decades even though it has been mostly ignored by Western audiences until the success of the blockbuster RRR cast a spotlight on Tollywood, the Telugu-language film industry based in Hyderabad. Since the pandemic, Tollywood is the largest in terms of box office grosses in India for multiple reasons including the reopening of theaters faster in the South after Covid, and local audiences turned off by the Western-themed Bollywood films that don’t resonate with them. The media consulting firm Ormax estimates that Tollywood grossed $212 million last year; Bollywood made $197 million.

Films are also made in Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada, other South Indian languages, but it is Tollywood that seems to have captured audiences’ imaginations with its epic films, some based on Indian mythology, with testosterone-laden heroes, over-the-top histrionics, frantic action scenes, and sophisticated special effects. They are distributed all over India and the Indian diaspora, dubbed in Hindi and other regional languages for exhibition, and subtitled for streaming.

The father of Telugu cinema is Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu, born in 1869, who started out as a photographer. He later established a photo studio, imported a “Chrono Mega Phone” – a sound-synching device from France – and made short films that he took to audiences across South India. He then opened several cinemas, a film library and a school to teach cinema techniques. His 1921 film, Bhishma Pratigna is considered to be the first Telugu feature film. After making several films with mostly religious themes, he was bankrupted by the rise of the East India Film Company.

But South Indians are avid filmgoers and the industry thrived, more filmmakers following Naidu’s lead, primarily focusing on mythological and religious subjects. The first talkie was made in 1931 by H.M. Reddy called Bhakta Prahlada, followed by Kalidas which was shot in both Tamil and Telugu. Social themes then became prevalent and were set against modern-day backdrops.

Till the 1940s, Tollywood’s headquarters was in Chennai, with several studios established in that city. Then the industry moved to Hyderabad when prominent actor N.T. Rama Rao was elected Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh in the 1990s. (NTR, as he is known, is the grandfather of RRR actor NTR, Jr.) Several studios were set up in Hyderabad, including Annapurna Studios and Ramoji Film City, the latter being the largest working studio lot in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Hyderabad also has one of the largest 3D IMAX screens in the world. Almost half of India’s cinema screens are in South India.
Huge stars were created like Chiranjeevi (who parlayed his fame into political office), Pawan Kalyan (another actor-turned-politician and brother of Chiranjeevi) and comedian Brahmanandam whose memorable films include Gang Leader and Jalsa. He is the holder of the Guinness World Records listing for the most screen credits of any living actor, appearing in over 1,000 films.

Tollywood writer/director, S.S. Rajamouli (RRR), is the most successful in India, and the highest paid. All twelve films he has directed have been hits. Known for his big budgets, Rajamouli is behind six of the highest-grossing films in India. His Baahubali 2, which tops the list, has sold over a hundred million tickets, and its sets at Ramoji Film City where it was shot, are a huge tourist attraction in the theme park.
Rajamouli’s RRR is his most expensive film with a budget of $75 million and stars Tollywood superstars N.T. Rama Rao, Jr. and Ram Charan. It premiered to rave reviews from local and international critics and has grossed over $160 million worldwide. It scored Golden Globe nominations for Best Foreign Language Film (the first Telugu film and the third Indian film to do so) and Best Song, winning in the latter category for “Nattu Nattu.” In the wake of its success, a sequel is already being written.

While Rajamouli’s Baahubali 1 and 2 were also megahits in 2015 and 2017 respectively, other Tollywood directors have seen huge successes with their films. 2021’s Pushpa: The Rise, directed by Sukumar, was a local megahit and a sequel is planned for 2024. Saaho, an action thriller shot in both Telugu and Hindi was another blockbuster written and directed by Sujeeth with stars from both Tollywood and Bollywood. The Hindi version was actually more successful in this case. Trivikram Srinivas is another award-winning and highly paid director in Telugu films best known for 2020’s hit Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo.

Arthouse Telugu films have received some recognition in international markets. Dassi, a film made in 1988 about women bonded into slavery won an award at the Moscow Film Festival in 1989. 2000’s Thiladaanam, which dealt with the rift between a destitute Brahmin priest and his revolutionary son won an award at the Busan International Film Festival, and 2006’s Vanaja screened at several film festivals including Toronto and Berlin, and was nominated for Best First Feature and Best Cinematography at the Independent Spirit Awards. It was one of Roger Ebert’s five best foreign language films of 2007.

Anaganaga O Dheerudu, or Once Upon a Warrior, an action fantasy film directed by Prakash Kovelamudi, was co-produced by Disney in 2011 which distributed it internationally and released it on DVD through Buena Vista Home Entertainment.

The comedy Dookudu was released in the US in 21 cities and was considered by the LA Times as “the biggest hit you’ve never heard of” because it set box office records in 2011.
As India continues to grow as a film market internationally and domestically, with the rise of streaming platforms its regional language cinema will also grow exponentially, with Tollywood leading the charge.

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Mollywood is the popular name for Malayalam cinema, the Indian film industry producing movies in the Malayalam language, primarily based in Kerala, known for its realistic storytelling and strong scripts, similar to how "Bollywood" refers to Hindi cinema. The term is a portmanteau of "Malayalam" and "Hollywood," reflecting its regional focus within India's diverse film landscape, though it can also refer to smaller film scenes like the budget-focused one in Malegaon, India, or even a Russian film industry.

Key Aspects of Mollywood:
Language: Malayalam.

Region: Kerala, India.

Characteristics: Often praised for realistic plots, strong character development, and high production values, garnering national and international acclaim.

Origin of the Name: A blend of "Malayalam" and "Hollywood," following the trend set by other regional Indian film industries like Kollywood (Tamil) or Tollywood (Telugu).

Other references to the word, "Mollywood".

1. Malayalam cinema, a sector of the Indian film industry in the state of Kerala.

2. Mollywood (Malegaon), a low budget film industry near Mumbai.

3. Mollywood (Russian cinema), a Russian-language film industry based in Russia.

4. Mollywood (Galaxy Studios), a film funding company based in Mol, Belgium.