Top 10 Telugu Female Action Movies of All Time

Female Action Movies did not start in 70’s or 80’s with a template of someone raping the heroine or her friend inspiring her to take a revenge path. We see many horror films having same theme but action films are different from them.  Let’s see what are the Top 10 Female Action Movies of all–time in the Telugu language.

The movie was a shock to regular movie-goers. A police officer wife hits her husband who has all the right to go for a strike. Movie had Arjun Sarja as a lead but more than him, the story concentrates on Sharada’s role as the officer and her plight with criminals, ethics and duty. Movie made her a must in many other films in powerful roles even with young actors as leads.

Vijayashanthi took a break from regular roles for this film and performed as a lecturer in a college, in this film. By that time, she was on the raise as glamorous actress but she dared to do such a subject with her belief on director, T. Krishna. The movie was based on the true story and in the film, she will be made naked on the road while her husband and many of the locals are watching ala Draupadi in Mahabharatam. Songs from the film are highly popular and the climax of the film makes it an action drama, even though drama dominates the film for most part. Charan Raj and Kota Srinivas Rao became popular in Telugu states as actors with this film.

After a film like Kartavyam, Vijayashanthi till kept doing films with big star heroes and occasionally showed her prowess in stunts. But this film has her in a full-fledged action role. The movie’s success gave her confidence to go for more films starring her in lead protagonist roles than doing films with other heroes. She performed some of the most scintillating action sequences in the film on her own. Watch it just for her performance as story seems cliché and old school for these days.

Bhanumathi in the early 1950’s with NTR and SVR in other lead roles directed a movie, Chandirani. Movie became a success but the important thing is that she performed stunts with growing star male lead in the film. Her husband, Ramakrishna who is a director produced the film as she wanted to direct it. He used to produce most of his films but this one is special for him and Bhanumathi as well. She proved that she can act, she can perform stunts that too in a dual role, sing and direct with this film. Movie released in 1953 and became a big success.

We don’t have to say much about the kind of sensation this film created when female oriented films have become ancient. The movie, Arundhathi became such a huge hit that many refer to it still as one of the biggest surprise hits of Telugu Cinema ever. Movie made Anushka Shetty a star and she continued to grow her popularity with films like Baahubali and Rudramadevi. Movie scenes are still fresh in the memory of the audiences. Sonu Sood became a star villain in South Indian languages, because of this film and that lead him to be cast in big Hindi films like Dabangg too.

Vijayshanthi after staying as glamour star and occasional revolutionary lead actress of few films, Karthavyam changed her fate to become a women actress who is enough to carry the film on her shoulders. This film is the best example of how screenplay of an emotional cop movie should run.  Even though it has many commercial elements that today seem very common, during the time, it was a sensation and Mohan Gandhi, Paruchuri Brothers were praised for directing, writing the film, respectively. It ran for so many days at theatres that many who thought it will flop at the box office, had to eat their words.

Vani Sri was at the peak of her stardom and she could dominate star heroes too in her films, at times. This is her action film with Ramudu-Bheemudu template and she had Krishna, Shoban Babu as co-leads but she did some of the heavy lifting even in action episodes as Manga. This movie became such a success that several other actresses also tried their hands at action films with minimal success. Only, Vijayalalitha could see some success but not at Vani Sri’s level.  Movie is a very fun fool-proof Telugu Commercial entertainer.

Soundarya delivered another life time performance in this film after Ammoru, Raja. She looked more raw in the film corresponding to the narrative style of Krishna Vamsi. The movie became such a huge success that people were shocked to actually see performances of Prakash Raj, Soundarya and unexpectedly, Jagapathi Babu in this movie. Jagapathi Babu revealed that he was asked to drink alcohol in several scenes to give such an iconic performance. Movie is the best faction realistic film from TFI. The elements touched in the movie has become inspiration for many films, later.

Dasari Narayana Rao after long time returned to revolutionary films. He made many family drama films that people thought he is no longer the same director who made Bobbili Puli. He presented Vijayashanthi in a glamorous look in the first half and shifted her character to a revolutionary leader in later half. The movie seems to be DNR’s version of Bandit Queen but he added his own touches to that story to make it look realistic as the Naxal moment in Telangana state was high at the time and it rose against then leaders and “Dora” culture. Superstar Krishna acted in an inspiring cameo that added emotion to the film.

Rudramadevi is an historical war drama film starring Anushka as the lead in the direction of Gunasekhar. The director produced the film and he had to go through many hardships to make the film over three years. But it became a box office success and it also received tax benefits from Telangana State Government for showing history of Kakatheeya Ruler. Allu Arjun’s cameo and Anushka Shetty’s acting in the film won praises from audiences.