‘I will cast and encourage only Telugu actors’

Except heroes, from heroines to supporting roles to antagonists, we see a lot of non-Telugu speaking actors in Telugu cinema. Veteran actor Kota Srinivasa Rao has long back vented out his anger on Tollywood filmmakers for preferring non-Telugu speaking actors over local artists.

Well there is nothing wrong in looking for a worthy actor who can fit the bill of a role that is tailor made. But despite having commendable talent here, it is unfair on part of filmmakers to opt for non-Telugu speaking artists.

But at the end of the day it is all in the hands of a director and he is the ultimate decision maker on cast. Director Karuna Kumar who made his debut with critically acclaimed ‘Palasa 1976’ is next arriving with ‘Sridevi Soda Center.’ This director is firm in casting and encourage only Telugu actors in his films.

In his two films, Karuna Kumar casted only Telugu actors while heroines of ‘Palasa’ and ‘Sridevi Soda Center,’ Nakshatra and Anandhi respectively are Telugu speaking actresses. Not stopping here, Karuna Kumar made a daring statement that he would continue this trend and he would only cast Telugu speaking actors no matter what.

However, in ‘Sridevi Soda Center’ the antagonist is a non-Telugu speaking artist but Karuna Kumar has a reason for it. Initially he roped in a Telugu actor but as he tested positive for Covid-19, the director was left with no other option to replace with a non-Telugu speaking actor.

Probably Karuna Kumar is setting a phenomenon and hopefully rest of the directors in Tollywood follow the pursuit so that we can witness a wide range of talents from Telugu lands.