Costume dramas are nothing new to the Telugu Film Industry, which once was the master at making costume dramas – having made numerous such films during the black and white era. From folklore to mythological and other all sorts of films were explored under this genre, and were mostly successful as well. Towards the late 70s and 80s though, the Telugu film industry moved away from periodic films, and towards commercial cinema.
The period genre was once again revived with director SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali franchise, which glorified the genre with its impeccable storytelling and visuals. Following the grand success of the Baahubali franchise, several filmmakers have announced several periodic films, some of which released to less than stellar reviews, some of which turned out to be disasters, and most of which failed to take off after announcement.
Despite the less than impressive results of periodic films, filmmakers are continuing to make films in the same genre, with a number of such films in the making right now, including Gunasekhar’s Shaakuntalam, Adipurush, Madhu Mantena’s Ramayana, and several other films. It is now to be seen how well these films will perform at the box office, and what other films will be launched in the future, in this genre.