Tollywood gets a Telangana twang

HYDERABAD: Until barely three years ago, Telugu film-makers were given to using the Telangana dialect for comic relief.
Since its birth in 2001, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti adopted this as a sore point and used it to fan separatist flames. The film industry has now begun to fall in line, largely out of fear of losing audiences in the Telangana region.
Suddenly, the Telangana accent and figure of speech are acceptable to the film industry, which is dominated largely by people from coastal Andhra.Director Teja''s films invariably have a character speaking in the Telangana dialect and in director-actor R Narayanamurthy''s films, it''s Telangana all the way.
In fact, ''Lady Amitabh'' Vijayashanthi''s claim to fame is the film Osey Ramulamma directed by Dasari Narayana Rao in which she speaks in chaste Telangana accent.
"Earlier, directors shied away from having a character speak in the Telangana dialect but not anymore," says writer-actor Tanikella Bharani.
Bharani himself was instrumental in making the dialect popular. More than 15 years ago, he used it in the film Mondi Mogudu Penki Pellam, again starring Vijayashanthi. "For the first time ever in a Telugu film, a heroine spoke in the Telangana dialect," Bharani said.
But he went to great lengths to convince director Y Nageshwara Rao that it would work. Not only did it catch, it has now become one of the main ingredients for a film''s success in all the three regions of the state.
In the runaway hit Nuvvu Nenu, actress Shakuntala plays a pivotal role as a woman villain who speaks chaste Telangana. A Marathi speaker herself, the actress is now popularly known as ''Telangana Shakuntala'' for her ease with the form of speech.
"There''s punch in the Telangana dialect. Earlier, it used to be reserved for the buffoons but not anymore," says Shakuntala.