Revanth Reddy on Tuesday told thousands of cine workers, in the presence of Tollywood stalwarts like Dil Raju, that he will bring Hollywood to Hyderabad if everyone stands by him. The utterance is nothing less than a hyperbole, critics feel.
The Hyderabad-based film ecosystem has not evolved to outcompete even Bollywood and, in some instances, Mollywood. When a well-made film like Lokah arrives, we are astounded by its budget-to-quality ratio. Most big-ticket Telugu films have non-Telugu technicians working on them.
And then, the state of infrastructure in Hyderabad is abysmal. Even roads in upscale localities like Film Nagar and Banjara Hills are full of potholes. There is Ramoji Film City, but had it been enough to bring Hollywood to the city, that would have happened by now to a small extent at the very least.
The Telangana government has no defined industrial policy to make Hyderabad a global hub of cinema. Even on straightforward matters like ticket rate hikes, there is too much dilly-dallying. When elections are round the corner, cine workers are pampered. Otherwise, no serious efforts are made to uplift their skills and living standards. And how many cine workers are motivated to acquire world-class skills is not clear.
