Top 30 must watch Telugu films

Missamma(1955) – Until i saw this movie , i hated watching old movies. But changed my opinion after watching this. Became a fan of savitri garu. The songs remain extremely popular to this day, casting a magical spell over the listeners. Live wire performances by Savithri, NTR and ANR make this movie a thorough entertainer.

Maya Bazaar(1957) -the ultimate classic..it stands by its own way. The most perfect and impressive work of Cinematography, till date in Tollywood. I wont say much about it as people who have seen the film can understand it and if you have not seen the film then i pity you.

Sagara Sangamam(1983)–the performances of Dr.Kamal and jayaprada makes u stuck to the seat..A master piece from K.Viswanath.

Anveshana (1985)–the best thriller in tollywood till date..bhanupriya at her best..excellent background score by ilayaraja..

Chantabbai(1986)–a jandhyala classic with the the splendid performances of chiranjeevi and suhasini..every character has its own strength..a 200% perfect comedy..

Pushpaka vimanam(1988)-the commendable performance of kamal hasan makes this silent movie a legendary one..kudos to singeetam ..

Swarna Kamalam(1988)-another masterpiece from K.Viswanath.Brilliant acting performances from Venkatesh and Bhanupriya.

Geetanjali(1989)–an excellent work of cinematography and a brilliant music from the maestro ilayaraja…best of mani ratnam.

Jagadeka veerudu atiloka sundari(1990)—the best socio fantasy in tollywood ..the best combination ever possible …chiranjeevi with sridevi.produced by aswini dutt and directed by raghavendra rao..

Aditya 369(1991)-the one and only sci-fi movie in telugu film industry till now..a splendid work of singeetam srinivasarao..the only best film of Bala krishna..

Appula apparao(1991)–the superb comedy ..best of rajendra Prasad..watched tens of times..

Kshana kshanam(1991)–the best of RGV in my view.with sridevi in lead role and best role ever.u cant expect better than this in tollywood ..

Aa okkati adakku(1993)–the jandhyala classic..rajendra prasad at best with rambha in lead role..what else..beautiful comedy..

Annamayya(1997)–the best performance from nagarjuna..made a wave in tollywood.made the industry struck to basics of feeling the inner pulse of audience.

Kushi(2000)–The best of the power star and bhoomika..superb concept,screenplay and direction.

Nuvve nuvve(2002)–i still cant forget the laddu-pandu sequence of sunil and ms narayana..an excellent work of trivikram with shriya in the lead..what more do u require..a perfect comedy ….u cant forward even a bit while watching even after 10 times…

Nuvvu naaku nachav(2003)–powered by trivikram dialogues, performances by venkatesh ,prakash raj,suhasini..and the beauty of arti agarwal. and excellent screenplay…complete entertainer..

Okkadu(2003)–When i heard it has faction elements in movie..i was thumb struck how maheshcan be a factionist.OMG..cant watch..But it turned out to be too good that i watched 2 shows on opening day itself..{bunking all classes..doing adventures. another big story}

Tagore(2003)–Only chiranjeevi could do it..thats it…

Anukokunda oka roju(2005)–One of the best works you can see in Telugu film, with a dark theme and colour used to capture the atmosphere and pulse of the audience…a suspense thriller ..charmi at her best..excellent screenplay by chandrasekhar yeleti…

Athadu(2005)–the perfect blend of trivikram,mahesh,trisha and ofcourse brahmi…one of best movie of recent times…techincally,the best climax of tollywood…

Pokiri(2006)–made a new style of making movies and picturising hero ..it had almost every element required for the tollywood audience to enjoy..

Bommarillu(2006)..this is what i call screenplay.. top notch performances from prakash raj, siddharth, and jenelia makes it a perfect film.

Magadheera (2009) - Ramcharan proves he is nothing less of his father . Rajamouli proves he is master of storytelling. The movie which brought socio-fantasy back to telugu movies.

One nenokkadine (2014) - The best interval block of Telugu cinema. Mahesh Babu excels in this with a mindblowing screenplay.

Eega (2012)- There is nothing SS Rajamouli cant do. He can make a super thriller with a mosquito as a hero.

Manam (2014) - There cant be a bigger tribute to one of the Telugu cinema stalwart ANR garu . It was a joy to watch this on big screen.

Bahubali 1 & 2 (2015) - I cant say a top list of Telugu movies without this movie . Enough said. 

Mahanati (2018) - The gold standard for any biopic to be made.

Evaru (2019) - The best ever new age thriller made in Telugu .Adivi sesh ensures his screenplay skills are top notch.

If you are specific for thriller movies in recent Telugu ones. 

https://telugutalkies21.blogspot.com/2021/04/top-new-telugu-thriller-movies.html

Please drop your favorites in comments

Top new Telugu thriller movies

 I believe thriller movies are a perfect mixture of what a new age movie audience want in a movie. It has suspense elements, can add romance or comedy elements , a racing screenplay and effective sound and all these add to a even awesome movie experience.

Telugu movies are no less than any other industry in Thriller genre.This is the list of top 10 thriller movies i like. For universal appeal, i have excluded gore and horror from the list.Also, there are movies like Athadu ( My top most favorite movie) and Gentleman (Nani ) which can be classified into thrillers too. They are also not part of the list as i will be listing pure thriller movies with less of other noise.

One Nenokkadine - This is a movie i cant even be on seat after its interval block. Just some bad marketing has set very bad expectations on this movie and it flopped. It is a master piece for Mahesh Babu and Sukumar . Extraordinary performance by Mahesh Babu (oscar range as i can say) and multi layered screenplay woven so perfectly by Sukumar that some felt too complicated to get out of it.  In Trivikram words " Prekshakula Staayini penchina cinema ".  I wrote a separate blog post on this movie when i watched it .  1 Nenokkadine – View and Review

Next in my list is Khakhee ( Hero : Karthi and original Tamil movie name is : Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru ) .  It is a real life cop story chasing criminals and in my view is the only cop movie done right. Khaidi is another brilliant thriller from Karthi .

Next is the new movie "Evaru" , by Adivi Sesh, the new age master of thriller screenplays , the story is taken from a French movie, but i think the Telugu version is much better than French one and is mindblowing . If you have not watched it, please hop on to nearest OTT app ( Available on prime as of now) . And do not miss it.

"Drushyam " , the movie has been remade in multiple languages , is my next favorite. A family drama converted into a thriller intelligently by the even more intelligent and calm poised hero is an excellent writing and Thanks to Malayalam movie for this. Drushyam 2  is no less and is a perfect sequel for this one.

One recent thriller movie i super liked is "Agent sai Srinivas Athreya" , the super talented Naveen polishetty has all the qualities to be the next star of Telugu cinema , acts as a quirky detective and uncovers a mindboggling series of deaths .

I will be doing injustice to each of these films if i rank them in any order. My next lineup of movies are "Aithe" , which showcased how talented is ChandraSekhar yeleti and his next movie " Anukokunda Oka Roju" .

Other new thrillers which are very well done are Ekkadiki Pothavu Chinnavada, Mathu Vadalara,  Goodachari, Seven (dubbed) , Detective (starring Vishal ) .  

"Kshanam" , the movie which propelled Telugu cinema into new age thrillers , "KshanaKshanam", the jewel of RamGopal Varma, "Ave Kallu ", the brilliant one from SuperStar Krishna .  ( And yes, i am starting this list with Mahesh Babu movie and ending with SuperStar Krishna movie :P )

Please drop in comments on the movies you love in this genre.

Best interval twists of Telugu cinema

 In my opinion, the best interval twist in Telugu cinema are from these movies :

Aithe 

One - Nenokkadine 

Indra 

Simhadri 

Balupu 

Eega

Munna 

 

 

Must watch Telugu movie - Aithe

 Continuing my series on must watch Telugu movies , Aithe is the next one on the list. 

Aithe is a movie which tells Chandrasekhar Yeleti is a great storyteller for our generation. He has probably inspired tons of movie makers , even across the globe. A thought provoking suspense thriller which has one of the best interval twists in Telugu cinema. I dont remember much now but cant forget the awesome experience of watching this movie. Please do watch it.

You can watch it on youtube 

Grand Canyon Visit via Telugu song

 I was pleasantly surprised when i saw the Guvva Gorinka song from Telugu movie "Subramanyam for Sale " .  It showcases Grand Canyon west in all its glory even following the same order of tour itinerary.

 

1. Guano Point: This has some breathtaking views of Canyon and song does justice in all its glory possible.

2. Cafeteria near Skywalk : Usually they dont open all those umbrellas.

3. Open Auditorium near Skywalk where native Indians perform 

4. Hualapai Ranch. You can see some horses in the song too.

5. Eagle Point : This is sacred to native Indians.

6. Skywalk . Surprised that they allowed a movie shoot. Previously they didnt allow mobile phones too .

 

 

Bell Bottom Kannada dub movie - Short review - Watch it

 Kannada movies have been coming up with some quirky , interesting thrillers since some years though the focus has been more on remaking and Dubbing the kannada versions. Movies like Lucia, Kapatadaari, U Turn, Kirik Party have made a good impression of story telling capabilities of Kannada movie makers. 

Bell Bottom is a recent dubbed version in Telugu from the same name in Kannada released on Aha video. Crisp review is that its a well designed thriller and if you have time, go for it. The retro theme and quirkiness of the lead actor ensures movie is a pleasant watch . 

Lead actor Rishab shetty and Haripriya keeps us engaged till the end aided by some good twist from Achyut kumar ( who most can recognize in other films) . The detective brain of lead actor and some interesting knowledge share makes thriller buffs go happy. Music has ensured that movie mood is appropriately conveyed. 

Watch it on Aha. 

Uppena OTT release - Netflix

 One of the hit movies in 2021 in Telugu films is Uppena. It is expected to be available in Netflix starting April 14 2021.