Opinion: Tamil Stars’ Sudden Love For Telugu Directors

The collaboration of Dhanush with Sekhar Kammula for a PAN India film and Tamil star hero Vijay going to team up with director Vamshi Paidipally are clear indications that Tamil star heroes have fallen in sudden love with Telugu directors.

Tamil stars had always been elusive to Telugu directors. In the past, several Telugu big directors have approached Tamil star heroes. But none of them have shown interest towards Telugu star directors. Though several talks and discussions had happened, but nothing had materialised. 

Even directors like Puri Jagannadh, Sukumar, Vinayak never got a chance to crack the nut. While Puri Jagannadh had approached Suriya for a stellar project, Suriya had initially shown interest. But it didn’t work out. Karthi did Oopiri with Vamshi Paidipally. But it is a multi-starrer with Nagarjuna in the lead. So, it can’t be counted.

Several big Telugu directors in private have admitted that Tamil star heroes have looked down upon Telugu star directors. Whereas Telugu stars have always lined-up to work with Tamil directors such as Mani Ratnam, Shankar, AR Murugadoss, Lingusamy and et al.

Meanwhile, the perception of Tamil heroes on the Telugu filmmakers has changed totally in recent years. Thanks to SS Rajamouli for his path-breaking and magnum opus Baahubali which showed the country what Tollywood is capable of. Rajamouli’s sudden rise has beaten the likes of Shankar and this has changed the image of Telugu directors overall. Even Prashant Neel’s KGF has once again shown the power of South talent to the North.

Sundeep Reddy Vanga cemented the B-town’s view on South directors with Arjun Reddy’s Hindi remake Kabir Singh. Now that Jersey is being remade in Hindi and Bollywood is looking at Telugu, Telugu makers are naturally hogging the limelight. In the past too, Bollywood did several Telugu remakes. But Tamil star heroes were never interested in Telugu directors. But that perception has changed in the recent times.

With cut-throat competition among star heroes and the erasing of borders among regional movies, Tamil stars are eyeing at expanding their base in Telugu.

Unlike Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Suriya, Karthi and Vishal, Tamil stars like Ajith, Vijay and Dhanush have little presence in Telugu market. This is why they are now eyeing at improving their markets in Telugu which is now competing directly with Bollywood. Finally, good days are coming to Telugu directors.