Director Teja should come out of illusion

Tollywood director Teja created a brand for himself with his style of filmmaking. He secured a good image among moviegoers because of big hits like Chitram, Family Circus, Nuvvu Nenu, and Lakshmi Kalyanam. He delivered these hits nearly two decades ago. In the last 15 years, Teja managed only one decent outing with Rana’s Nene Raju Nene Mantri. His recent films like Keka, Neeku Naaku Dash Dash, Hora Hori, Sita and Ahimsa ended as embarrassing failures at the box office.

Despite having a poor track record with a string of forgettable films, Teja comes up with a tall talk as a philosopher during his media interactions. He criticizes top-tier directors of Tollywood who delivered blockbusters as if he has already surpassed them in all aspects. He projects himself as a creative director and tries to create an illusion that he has better knowledge of the craft than other directors. He also makes unnecessary comments about heroes with whom he previously worked.

His latest film Ahimsa is torture for moviegoers. The film evaporated from screens in no time after its release last Friday. Even during the pre-release promotions of Ahimsa, Teja grabbed the attention of the media with his controversial statements about actors and directors of Tollywood. He seems to be following his mentor and idiosyncratic director Ram Gopala Varma in all aspects.

Critics and cinephiles say that Teja should come out of his dreamland and concentrate on filmmaking. He cannot sell mediocre films with his past image. He needs to come up with sensible content in order to succeed. He is next working with Rana Daggubati and the film is titled ‘Rakshasha Raju’. Technically, this is going to be a make-or-break film for Teja.