MASS ENERGY

Telugu cinema’s formula for pan-India success has content at its core, aided by smart marketing and an indulgent overseas audience

- RAHUL DEVULAPALLI

Mahender Singh is a typical Hyderabadi. He likes his mutton biryani, and speaks the Dakhni dialect—a mix of Urdu, Telugu and other regional languages. His apartment complex, bereft of a lift or a proper parking space, is nestled in the crowded middle-class locality of Vijay Nagar colony in southwest Hyderabad. The major attraction in his modest two-bedroom apartment is a tiny Pomeranian caged in a corner of the living room.

Mahender, 60, sits on the floor, resting against a sofa. He is fiddling with the TV remote, looking for a movie on YouTube, and when he finds it, his joy is evident. No, it is not Baahubali (2015) in which Prabhas plays a character named similar to his—Mahendra. The movie he has selected is the dubbed version of Adavi Ramudu in Hindi, which was released almost a decade before Baahubali. Within seconds of its playing, Mahender pauses the movie and points to the screen, saying, “Look.” The producer’s credit reads Mahendra Singh. “That’s me,” he says, with a hint of pride.

He produced The Strongman Badal (Adavi Ramudu) and 10 other dubbed Telugu films; some with an attractive star cast and reputed directors. He has dubbed another 200 Telugu films in partnership with others in the last 20 years. At a time when Telugu films had a negligible market outside south India, he would buy the dubbing rights to a film for a few lakhs and spend an equal amount on dubbing it in Hindi, getting the censor board clearance and on marketing the movie for either a theatrical release in Mumbai or satellite channel release.