Writer Abburi Ravi took to X to slam the latest trend of not renaming Tamil films with Telugu titles during release. Recent films like Raayan, Vettaiyan, and Kanguva are going ahead with the original Tamil titles in their releases in Telugu. This move is drawing criticism from Telugu literary circles and within the industry.
Remarking on the trend, Ravi wrote, “Telugu audiences are being disrespected. Films that are dubbed in Telugu used to have Telugu titles. Even in the film, any written language display boards used to be CGed and changed to Telugu writing. But that’s not the case anymore. I respect the original language and their artistry, but taking the Telugu audience for granted is not acceptable.”
He further lamented to the Telugu audiences, “I don’t think it is a great quality to respect and welcome other language films when they don’t respect our own language.”
Insiders of the industry are said to have echoed with the sentiment. They feel that Tamil films that are dubbed into Telugu used to get retitled and released. The practice was followed by iconic filmmakers like Mani Rathnam and Shankar, but today’s filmmakers are not respecting it anymore. Other biggies from both industries are yet to comment on the issue.
Abburi Ravi is a noted Telugu screenwriter. He gained acclaim through films like Bommarillu, Kick, Kshanam, Oopiri, and Evaru among others.