Cop stories create huge impact on young audiences mainly and youngsters love to watch the films as they leave high impact as action entertainers with powerful characters. Here are 15 of the best Telugu cop monies of all-time;
We have to state one thing out here, Police Story is NOT A TELUGU MOVIE. Yes, it isn’t. It is dubbed from Kannada original and became a sensational hit for Sai Kumar, who has been playing second lead or important character roles in Telugu movies, lending his voice to heroes like Rajasekhar and Suman. Thriller Manju’s epic Police story gets a big salute from all of us, before going into other films.
Kondaveeti Simham might be the first trendsetting cop movie from a star hero of Telugu Cinema. Normally, majority of heroes before Krishna played roles of a farmer, doctor, a servant, a thief, a zamindar, a king, a warrior, a historical legend, a devotee and lost child but not many looked at cop roles as this heroic film hero. Even Krishna played more detective roles than cop roles in his movies giving himself space to romance heroines, on-screen as well.
But this movie directed by K. Raghavendra Rao based on Sivaji Ganeshan’s Thangapathkam, changed few things from the original and became a bible for cop movies for senior legends.
There are films by Krishna and Krishnamraju starring them in inspector or police officer roles but they had another character to pull of comedy tracks or romance in the films. Hence, the impact used to get diluted by large margin. But no one imagined a character like full-time angry young man with such impact like Kodi Ramakrishna did in Ankusam. Rajasekhar became a mass hero with this film in late 80’s.
Nippulanti Manishi is a remake of Zanjeer starring NTR and it had this angry young man character like Amitabh Bachchan in the original. Even though movie became a super hit, it did not create similar impact as the original or as Ankusam could on Telugu screen. Hence, instead of that film, Kondaveeti Simham and Ankusam are on the list.
Vijayashanthi could become legendary Ramulamma of Telugu Cinema and Lady Amitabh of South Cinema, because of this film. Kartavyam just presented the perfect blend of action – emotion much better than Pratidhwani and the movie’s impact can be still seen in many cop stories. Recently, released Darbar follows this film screenplay, if you observe closely. Mohan Gandhi and Paruchuri Brothers made the movie, one of the most impactful cop stories ever.
Balakrishna has become god of masses with different films that project him as the messiah who came to save them. The first transition of the actor from young villager or young employee of middle class family roles happened with this film. He created an impact on mass with this film in such a way that many started quoting his dialogues from the movie. B. Gopal and Paruchuri Brothers came up with an impactful movie and screenplay.
Uppalapati Narayana Rao is one of the most underrated directors of Telugu Cinema. He made Jaithrayatra, Teerpu and Rakshana with Nagarjuna, ANR in the lead roles. As only Rakshana could pay rich dividends at the box office, he had to resort to do creating dramas on TV and direct lesser impactful films. But his Rakshana still finds many takers as the impact the movie creates on audiences is still fresh. Even though Nirnayam has similar path in screenplay, the characters are completely different. As a cop, Nag delivers a lasting impression in this film than Nirnayam.
We saw an edit on Shivamani intro scene at Purna Market in Vizag from the film, syncing with curreny situation. As a character Shivamani created such lasting impression. Nagarjuna just adapted to Puri Jagannath’s style completely for this movie and both gave us a character to remember even though film has some issues.
Pawan Kalyan fans got what they wanted with this film. After 10 years of wait, they got a real impactful film from their star. The movie might have been a remake but only 40% from the original Dabangg has been used and this created a very high impact on box office for Pawan Kalyan to try a sequel for the film, Sardar Gabbar Singh, which failed at the box office. Fans expect again such solid impactful film from Harish Shankar and PSPK combo. Devi Sri Prasad just delivered his best mass audio for Pawan Kalyan in this film.
Venkatesh did police role in Surya IPS but that film did not have the finesse or the impact that Gharshana had. Movie showcased the rough nature of a cop on the line of duty and his soft heart that longs for a normal life, a romance in a very impactful manner. Even though it is a remake, original film director Gautham Menon, recreated the impact again. Music by Harris Jayraj helped the movie to standout from the lot.
In Telugu Cinema, if a hero turning into a cop after being playful for two-thirds of the film has become a trend then that is the impact of this film. Pokiri created such huge impact that the film prompted many people to come up with “twist or big reveal” in pre-climax kind of screenplays for most of the films. Puri Jagannath, Mahesh Babu and Ileana D’Cruz with Mani Sharma made the film, a memorable experience for every viewer.
Ravi Teja is known for playing more comic roles. We had to look at Vikramarkudu and Power closely to choose which one of Ravi Teja’s film can we call a more impactful cop film. Power gets slightly higher marks as a cop story than Vikramarkudu as it is not 100% cop movie. But as a commercial entertainer, it’s value and impact are several miles higher than Power. Just on basis of the 30 minutes episode of Ravi Teja as powerful cop and that character’s impact, we can rate it as a better cop story than many others.
A corrupt cop turning into a good one. This is not entirely new premise as Balakrishna did explore it in Lakshmi Narasimha. Again impact that Temper creates on audience gives it the higher mark to be in this list. NTR’s Daya character and Puri Jagannath’s one-liners for the character are still popular. Do we need to say more about the impact.
When it comes Lakshmi Narasimha vs Pataas, again vote goes more to Pataas as impact of Lakshmi Narasimha is diluted in its second half. Pataas gains more weight in the second half as a film and it is consistent in creating an impact and entertain too.
Mahesh Babu played a different version of Pokiri as cop said few critics but the film presented him as a cop and a mass commercial hero in perfect balance. The movie’s entertainment value gives it a place in the list than it being a cop story.
Dhruva is one of the best cop stories in Telugu Cinema. Even though the story is not entirely new, the screenplay and the villain – hero tug of war sequences leave a greater impact. This movie has paved a way for future cop movies to refer from in Telugu Cinema. Ram Charan as the honest cop and Aravind Swamy as villain delivered impactful performances.
Puri Jagannath’s best cop story. Yes, Gopi chand carried the movie on his shoulders as he got big support from writer Puri Jagannath in the movie. As a director, Puri did not leave a lasting impression like Pokiri but this one is his best cop film, one has to say.
Also Read: Best Telugu Comedy Movies On Amazon Prime Video
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