MoviePublish

How MoviePublish looks

MoviePublish keeps the look of the site it is named after, a video magazine of 2017. A white sheet stands on a pale grey ground with a soft shadow around it. At the top are the MoviePublish name, its second word in dark red, and a search box. Beneath them runs a dark grey menu bar with bold light lettering: Home, Telugu Movie, Love Stories, Comedy, Family, A-Z and My List. The page you are on is marked by a thin red line along the top of its menu item.

The home page opens with a dark featured panel. On the left stand four large posters, each with its title on a translucent strip along the bottom; on the right is a list of four more films in dark rows, the first marked with a red line at its edge. Below the panel comes the title of the site, and then the page divides into a wide column and a side column. The wide column holds sections with small capital headings, New Movie Release, Critics' choice, All Time Favourite Movie and Comedy, each with a grey More button at the right and a grid of posters beneath. The side column lists the categories with their counts in brackets, the years and the help pages.

The colours are those of the original: white, greys from pale to charcoal, teal for links and a dark red that appears when the pointer passes over a link. The headings are set in Open Sans and the text in Arimo. On a telephone the menu folds behind a button with three lines, the side column moves beneath the sections, and the posters stand two to a row.

Love stories

Telugu cinema takes romance seriously, and the Love stories category, with 124 films, is by far the largest on MoviePublish. The Love stories help page suggests where to start.

The films that reviewers and audiences agree on are those that follow one love across many years. Malli Raava, from 2017, the first film of Gowtam Tinnanuri, tells the story of Karthik and Anjali at fourteen in a small town, in their twenties in the city and in their thirties on the eve of her wedding, moving between the three periods so that each explains the others. Its title means come back again. Jaanu, from 2020, with Sharwanand and Samantha, a Telugu version of a much-loved Tamil film by the same director, brings a travel photographer and the girl he loved at school together for one night at a class reunion, twenty years on. Tholi Prema, from 2018, the first film of Venky Atluri, with Varun Tej and Raashii Khanna, follows a couple through a train journey, a college and a later meeting in London.

Majili, from 2019, directed by Shiva Nirvana, is the most popular film in the catalogue. Naga Chaitanya plays Poorna, a talented young cricketer in the port city of Visakhapatnam whose first love ends badly and who lets his life drift for years afterwards. Samantha plays Sravani, the neighbour who marries him knowing all of this and quietly holds the household together. The title means a stage of a journey, and the film is at its best in its second half, when a twelve-year-old girl comes to stay and the marriage slowly comes to life.

Chance meetings start many of the lighter romances. In Ishq, from 2012, directed by Vikram Kumar, with Nithiin and Nithya Menen, a flight to Hyderabad is diverted to Goa, and two strangers spend an unplanned day there. In Gunde Jaari Gallanthayyinde, from 2013, with the same pair, a young man telephones the girl he has seen at a wedding and reaches, by a mistake over one digit, a different girl altogether. In Adbhutham, from 2021, a boy and a girl discover that they have the same telephone number and are speaking to each other across a gap of several years. 18 Pages, from 2022, written by Sukumar, has a young man of the smartphone age find the diary of a girl who lives entirely offline, and set out to meet her.

100% Love, from 2011, directed by Sukumar, with Naga Chaitanya and Tamannaah, is a comedy of rivalry. Balu has come first in every examination of his life; Mahalakshmi, his cousin from the country, comes to stay, studies under his direction and beats him. Neither can forgive the other, and neither can stay away. Oh My Friend, from the same year, with Siddharth and Shruti Haasan, asks whether a boy and a girl who have been best friends since childhood can remain only that, and Endukante Premanta, from 2012, with Ram and Tamannaah, moves between Hyderabad and Paris.

The romances of Hanu Raghavapudi are known for their looks and their music. Andala Rakshasi, from 2012, his first film, set in the early 1990s, is about two young men, one wealthy and one poor, who love the same young woman at different times; it introduced Lavanya Tripathi, Naveen Chandra and Rahul Ravindran. Padi Padi Leche Manasu, from 2018, with Sharwanand and Sai Pallavi, is set in Kolkata. Malli Malli Idhi Rani Roju, from 2015, directed by Kranthi Madhav, with Sharwanand as a champion runner and Nithya Menen as the girl whose voice he falls in love with before he has seen her face, has one of the best-loved soundtracks of its decade, and the same director made World Famous Lover, from 2020, in which a struggling writer, played by Vijay Deverakonda, turns his own heartbreak into several stories.

Many more wait in the category. Mr. Majnu, Krishna Vrinda Vihari, Ranga Ranga Vaibhavanga, about childhood sweethearts who have refused to speak to each other for years, Chal Mohan Ranga, Nannu Dochukunduvate, in which a serious software engineer hires a lively actress of short films to play his girlfriend, Thank You, Gurtunda Seetakalam, Iddari Lokam Okate, Paagal, Sehari and Choosi Choodangaane are popular romances of recent years, and 2026 has already added Couple Friendly, about two young people from the Telugu states who meet in Chennai, Chennai Love Story, Band Melam, Deewana and Oh..! Sukumari.

Comedy

The Comedy category holds 81 films, and the Comedy help page picks a handful.

Samajavaragamana, from 2023, directed by Ram Abbaraju, was the surprise success of its year. Balu, played by Sree Vishnu, works at a cinema box office and supports his family, including his father, who must pass his degree examination to claim an inheritance and has been failing it for decades. Balu, who tutors his father every evening, is determined to avoid love, since every girl who likes him ends, by his arrangement, as an honorary sister. Naresh plays the father, and the scenes between the two are among the funniest in recent Telugu cinema.

Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi?, from 2018, the second film of Tharun Bhascker, has become a favourite of a whole generation. Four friends who once dreamed of making a short film together have drifted into ordinary jobs. A celebration gets out of hand, they wake up in Goa, and to pay for their mistake they enter a short film contest. The cast were almost unknown, the talk is exactly the talk of young Hyderabad, and the title, which means what has happened to this city, comes from a public notice shown in cinemas. Mithra Mandali, from 2025, First Day First Show, from 2022, set in a small town in 2001, where a college student must obtain tickets for the first screening of a new film to impress a girl, and Kirrak Party, a campus comedy, are in the same line.

The director Maruthi builds comedies around a single habit. In Mahanubhavudu, from 2017, Sharwanand plays a young man with an obsessive need for cleanliness who falls in love and must visit her village. Kotha Janta is about two thoroughly selfish people who suit each other, and Manchi Rojulochaie, from 2021, about a father consumed by worry for his daughter. In Surya Vs Surya, from 2015, the hero has a rare condition that keeps him out of sunlight, so he attends a night college, and in Chitralahari, from 2019, Sai Dharam Tej plays an engineer with a good invention and unfailing bad luck.

The older style of large family comedy, with a houseful of relatives and a hero in disguise, is represented by the films of G. Nageswara Reddy with Vishnu Manchu, Dhenikaina Ready, from 2012, in which a young man enters the house of a feared landowner as a priest, and Achari America Yatra, which takes a family of priests to the United States, and by Namo Venkatesa, from 2010, directed by Srinu Vaitla, with Venkatesh as a kindly ventriloquist. Allari Naresh, the specialist of parody, appears in Brother of Bommali, as the gentle twin of a fierce sister, Meda Meeda Abbayi, Silly Fellows and Bangaru Bullodu. Hrudaya Kaleyam, from 2014, with Sampoornesh Babu, is a deliberate send-up of the heroic film, and Eluka Majaaka is a fantasy in which Brahmanandam plays a mouse with a grievance.

The comedy stars

The Comedy stars category holds 86 films, and the Comedy stars help page introduces the faces.

Brahmanandam is the most famous comedian in the language and holds a world record for the number of films in which a living actor has appeared, more than a thousand. A former lecturer in Telugu literature, he has a rubber face, perfect diction and a gift for playing men who are sure of their own cleverness. He has eleven films here, among them Namo Venkatesa, Dhenikaina Ready, Doosukeltha and Greeku Veerudu, and in Brahma Anandam, from 2025, he plays a grandfather opposite his own son, Raja Goutham.

Vennela Kishore, with 17 films, is the comedian of the present. He took his screen name from his first film, studied and worked in America before becoming an actor, and specialises in the hero's colleague or cousin, a man of the office who is always one step behind events. He is in Chitralahari, Manmadhudu 2, Samajavaragamana, Mahanubhavudu and Ori Devuda..!. Naresh, with ten, once a comic hero himself, now plays fathers with wonderful timing, in Sammohanam and Samajavaragamana above all. Posani Krishna Murali, Ali, Saptagiri, who takes the lead in Sapthagiri LLB and Pelli Kaani Prasad, Priyadarshi, who leads Sarangapani Jathakam and Mithra Mandali, Rahul Ramakrishna and Satya, the miser of Vivaha Bhojanambu, complete the company.

Rajendra Prasad, the great comic hero of the 1980s and 1990s, and Tanikella Bharani, a writer as well as an actor, appear in six films each, usually as fathers, uncles and landlords, and Rao Ramesh, with his dry, unhurried delivery, is the father or the rival in six more.

Family films

The Family category holds 67 films, and the Family films help page picks a few to begin with.

Anni Manchi Sakunamule, from 2023, directed by Nandini Reddy, is set in a hill town with a coffee estate that two families have disputed for generations. A boy and a girl are born in the same hospital on the same night, and the film follows them, and a secret about that night, through childhood and into adult life. Santosh Soban and Malvika Nair play the pair, and Rajendra Prasad, Naresh and Gautami lead the older cast. Its title means all good omens. Vimanam, from 2023, is about a father who has lost the use of his legs and runs a public toilet for a living, and his small son, who wants more than anything to travel in an aeroplane. Prema Vimanam, from the same year, links two village children with the same dream to a young couple running away to the airport.

Vunnadhi Okate Zindagi, from 2017, directed by Kishore Tirumala, with Ram, is a film about friendship more than love: two boys who meet at school, grow up as close as brothers and are tested when both care for the same person. Its title means there is only one life. Jyo Achyutananda, from 2016, by Srinivas Avasarala, is about two brothers who courted the girl upstairs in their youth and must answer for it years later, when both are married and she comes back. Tej... I Love You, Solo, about an orphan who is determined to marry into a large family, Rangula Ratnam, about a young man devoted to his widowed mother, Jayammu Nischayammuu Raa and Dhoom Dhaam are family films in a popular manner.

Several films are told from a woman's side. Good Luck Sakhi, from 2022, directed by Nagesh Kukunoor, stars Keerthy Suresh as a village girl who is thought to bring bad luck and turns out to be a natural shot with a rifle. Happy Journey, from 2026, sends seven women of different generations on a holiday in Europe. Naanna Nenu Naa Boyfriends, from 2016, is about a much-indulged daughter who is unable to decide whom to marry, with Rao Ramesh as her patient father, and 8 Vasantalu, from 2025, follows a young woman who studies karate through eight years of her life.

Critics' choice

Since about 2012 a group of writer-directors has made Telugu films that depend on dialogue, character and music more than on stars. The Critics' choice category holds 36 of their films, and the Critics' choice help page arranges them by director.

Mohana Krishna Indraganti, a former student of film history, has three films here. Sammohanam, from 2018, is the best of them. Vijay, an illustrator of children's books, played by Sudheer Babu, has a low opinion of films and film stars. His father, played by Naresh, adores them, and lends the family house to a film crew in return for a small part. The star of the film, Sameera, played by Aditi Rao Hydari, needs help with her Telugu, and Vijay is asked to teach her. The love story that follows is handled with unusual tact, and the film is also a fond comedy about the film business. Aa Ammayi Gurinchi Meeku Cheppali, from 2022, is about a director who finds an old reel of film showing an unknown girl, and Sarangapani Jathakam, from 2025, is a comedy about a salesman who trusts his horoscope in everything until a palm reader gives him bad news.

Srinivas Avasarala, who is also an actor, writes the wittiest dialogue in Telugu. Oohalu Gusagusalade, from 2014, borrows the outline of an old French play: a young man who reads the news on a small channel agrees to coach his tongue-tied employer in courtship, and finds that the lady is the girl he lost three summers earlier. Naga Shaurya and Raashii Khanna play the couple, and Avasarala himself plays the employer. Jyo Achyutananda followed, and Phalana Abbayi Phalana Ammayi, from 2023, traces a couple across ten years in seven chapters.

Vivek Athreya began with Mental Madhilo, in 2017, about a young man so indecisive that choosing a shirt defeats him, who is asked to choose a wife. Srikanth Nagothi made Bhanumathi & Ramakrishna, from 2020, about a self-reliant woman of thirty in Hyderabad and the gentle newcomer from a small town who joins her office, and Month of Madhu, from 2023, set in Visakhapatnam. Uyyala Jampala, from 2013, by Virinchi Varma, is a village comedy about two cousins who have quarrelled since infancy; Ashoka Vanamlo Arjuna Kalyanam, from 2022, strands a bridegroom's whole family in the bride's village; and Raja Vaaru Rani Gaaru, from 2019, set in a village in the 2000s, is about a boy who takes three years to say what he feels. Krishna and His Leela, from 2020, Manasanamaha, a short film told backwards, Kaalamega Karigindhi..?, a memory of school days, and Johaar are other distinctive pieces.

Three films stand a little apart. Leader, from 2010, directed by Sekhar Kammula, was the first film of Rana Daggubati: the son of a chief minister returns from America at his father's death, takes the office himself and learns how difficult it is to remain honest in it. Natyam, from 2021, made by and starring the dancer Sandhya Raju, is set in a village devoted to classical dance, and its choreography won a national award. Gundello Godari, from 2013, produced by and starring Lakshmi Manchu, with music by Ilaiyaraaja, begins with a newly married couple caught by the great flood of the Godavari river in 1986, who tell each other their histories as the water rises.

Weddings

The Weddings category holds 32 films, and the Weddings help page sorts them into before and after.

Ashoka Vanamlo Arjuna Kalyanam is the pick of the first group. Arjun, a moneylender of thirty-three with a small paunch and a kind heart, played by Vishwak Sen, travels with his relatives to a distant village for his engagement. A lockdown is declared that night, the two families are shut in together for weeks, and the bride has plans of her own. Varudu Kaavalenu, from 2021, whose title means bridegroom wanted, stars Ritu Varma as a strict young businesswoman whose mother is losing patience and Naga Shaurya as the architect who knew her at college. Happy Wedding, from 2018, follows a couple through the nervous weeks before the ceremony, and The Great Pre-Wedding Show, from 2025, is a comedy about a photographer in a small town who loses the memory card of an important shoot.

Pelli Kaani Prasad and Prem Kumar are comedies about men who have been trying to marry for years. Vivaha Bhojanambu, from 2021, has a miser who is delighted to marry cheaply during a lockdown, until his in-laws are unable to leave. Sundarakanda, from 2025, with Nara Rohit, is about a bachelor in his thirties with a precise list of requirements. Among the films that begin after the wedding are Majili; Ori Devuda..!, from 2022, in which a husband who has married his best friend is offered a chance to live the last year again; Kalyanam Kamaneeyam, about a wife who earns and a husband who is still looking for work; 365 Days; Malli Modalaindi, a comedy about life after a divorce; and Santhana Prapthirasthu.

Youth and college

The Youth and college category holds 43 films, and the Youth and college help page describes them. Engineering colleges are to Telugu cinema what high schools are to American films: the place where everybody has been and every story can start.

Kirrak Party, from 2018, with Nikhil, follows a carefree first-year student and his gang through four years of college, and shows how the same young man looks in his final year. 1st Rank Raju is about a student who knows everything in the syllabus and little outside it. Prabuthwa Junior Kalashala, from 2024, is set in a government junior college in a small town, and 10th Class Diaries, 10th Lo Premalo Padithe and Kaalamega Karigindhi..? return to the last year of school. Patang, from 2025, is about three friends in the old city of Hyderabad, where kite flying at the January festival is a serious sport.

Sport gives a few films their shape. Bheemili Kabaddi Jattu, from 2010, with Nani, is about a village team in kabaddi, the game of tag and wrestling played across India, that enters a state tournament with little hope. A1 Express, from 2021, is set around a hockey ground that a town is fighting to keep. In Majili and Malli Malli Idhi Rani Roju the heroes are a cricketer and a runner.

Friendship carries Oh My Friend, Vunnadhi Okate Zindagi, 2 Friends, Nuvvila, Thakita Thakita, about a group of college friends and the adults who doubt them, and Jorugaa Husharugaa, and several of the young actors seen in these films, Vishwak Sen, Santosh Soban, Raj Tarun, Kiran Abbavaram and Sree Vishnu among them, have since become dependable leading men.

City life

The City life category holds 32 films, and the City life help page introduces them. Two cities dominate. Hyderabad, the capital of Telangana, is a city of old bazaars and new glass towers where a large share of India's software is written; Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi?, Mental Madhilo, Bhanumathi & Ramakrishna and Nannu Dochukunduvate are set among its offices, cafes and shared flats. Visakhapatnam, known as Vizag, is a port on the Bay of Bengal with a long beach road and hills behind it, and Majili, Month of Madhu, Joru and It's My Love Story make good use of it.

The film industry looks at itself in Sammohanam, Aa Ammayi Gurinchi Meeku Cheppali and First Day First Show. Work is the subject of Chitralahari, Brand Babu, about a rich young man who judges everyone by the labels they wear, Merise Merise, about a failed young businessman and a fashion designer, Masthu Shades Unnai Ra, about a painter of signs who must learn a new trade, and Vindhu Bhojanam, which ends in a cooking contest. Narayana & Co, from 2023, is a comedy about a middle-class family that takes on a risky errand to clear its debts, and Sathi Gani Rendu Ekaralu, from the same year, is about a villager with two acres of land and a decision to make.

Village stories

The Village stories category holds 15 films, and the Village stories help page maps them. The delta of the Godavari river, with its coconut palms, canals and tiled houses, is the classic countryside of Telugu cinema, and Uyyala Jampala and Gundello Godari are both set there. The drier uplands of Telangana, with their own dialect, songs and festivals, have come to the screen more recently, in Raja Vaaru Rani Gaaru, First Day First Show and Band Melam, from 2026, about a boy and a girl who grow up together in a village of musicians.

Rajanna, from 2011, written and directed by V. Vijayendra Prasad, is set in a Telangana village in the years just after independence and follows Mallamma, a small girl with a wonderful singing voice, who walks to Delhi to ask for help for her people; M. M. Keeravani wrote its songs. Jhummandi Naadam, from 2010, directed by the veteran K. Raghavendra Rao, is about a young man who leaves his village to become a singer, and it introduced Taapsee Pannu. Savaari, from 2020, is about a young man who hires out his horse for wedding processions, and Anubhavinchu Raja, with Raj Tarun, about a village heir who has spent his fortune and takes a job as a security guard in the city.

Stories from abroad

A very large number of Telugu families have a son or daughter working overseas, most often in the United States, and the films reflect it. The Stories from abroad category holds 15 films, and the Stories from abroad help page lists them.

Subramanyam For Sale, from 2015, directed by Harish Shankar, with Sai Dharam Tej and Regina, begins in America, where Subramanyam will do any honest job for a fee, and moves to a family wedding in Andhra at which he must pose as a husband. Chal Mohan Ranga, from 2018, with Nithiin, follows a young man who reaches the United States by an unusual route and meets a woman who was raised there. Greeku Veerudu, from 2013, brings a hard-headed businessman, played by Nagarjuna, home from New York to a family he has yet to meet. Teen Maar, from 2011, with Pawan Kalyan as a chef in Cape Town, sets a modern romance beside one from the 1970s, and Manmadhudu 2, from 2019, with Nagarjuna as a confirmed bachelor, was filmed in Portugal.

Drama

The Drama category holds 91 films, and the Drama help page divides it. Besides the films already described, it includes two portraits of public figures. Yatra, from 2019, with the Malayalam star Mammootty, follows the long walk across the state that Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy undertook in 2003 to meet farmers and villagers before he became chief minister. N.T.R: Mahanayakudu, from the same year, with Balakrishna as his own father, covers the years in which the film star N. T. Rama Rao founded a party and entered government.

Sita, from 2019, directed by Teja, stars Kajal Aggarwal as a businesswoman who thinks only of profit and Bellamkonda Sreenivas as the innocent young man raised in a monastery to whom she was promised in childhood. Solo Boy is the story of a young man who recovers from an early disappointment, and Nartanasala, Express Raja, in which a dog and a diamond bring a couple together, Orey Bujjiga and Solo Brathuke So Better, in which a campaigner for the single life changes his mind, mix drama with comedy in the manner Telugu audiences enjoy.

People to follow

A good way through the catalogue is to follow a name. Among directors, A. Karunakaran, whose first film in 1998 set the pattern for the Telugu college romance, is here with Endukante Premanta, Chinnadana Nee Kosam and Tej... I Love You. Vikram Kumar made Ishq and Thank You a decade apart. Kishore Tirumala made Vunnadhi Okate Zindagi and Chitralahari, and Venky Atluri made Tholi Prema and Mr. Majnu.

Among actors, Naga Shaurya has seven films, from Oohalu Gusagusalade to Krishna Vrinda Vihari; Sharwanand has five, Malli Malli Idhi Rani Roju, Express Raja, Mahanubhavudu, Padi Padi Leche Manasu and Jaanu; Nithiin has four; and Santosh Soban and Raj Tarun have six each. Among actresses, Regina Cassandra has six, Raashii Khanna five, and Nithya Menen, Lavanya Tripathi, Malvika Nair and Tamannaah several each.

The music deserves attention too. Telugu film songs are released weeks before a film and often decide its fate. Devi Sri Prasad wrote the songs of 100% Love and Vunnadhi Okate Zindagi, Thaman those of Tholi Prema, Gopi Sundar those of Malli Malli Idhi Rani Roju and Majili, Anup Rubens those of Ishq and Gunde Jaari Gallanthayyinde, Vivek Sagar those of Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi? and Sammohanam, and Kalyani Malik those of Oohalu Gusagusalade.

Year by year

Four categories arrange the catalogue by date, and the Year by year help page describes them. The 2010 to 2014 category holds 38 films: Leader, Namo Venkatesa, 100% Love, Oh My Friend, Ishq, Andala Rakshasi, Gunde Jaari Gallanthayyinde, Uyyala Jampala and Oohalu Gusagusalade.

The 2015 to 2019 category is the largest, with 51: Malli Malli Idhi Rani Roju, Subramanyam For Sale, Jyo Achyutananda, Mental Madhilo, Malli Raava, Mahanubhavudu, Tholi Prema, Sammohanam, Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi?, Majili and Chitralahari. These were the years in which the new writer-directors found their audience.

The 2020 to 2022 category holds 39 films, many of which reached viewers at home first: Jaanu, World Famous Lover, Bhanumathi & Ramakrishna, Krishna and His Leela, Varudu Kaavalenu, Ashoka Vanamlo Arjuna Kalyanam, Ori Devuda..! and 18 Pages. The 2023 onward category holds 36, from Samajavaragamana, Anni Manchi Sakunamule and Month of Madhu to Sarangapani Jathakam, Mithra Mandali, Couple Friendly and Band Melam.

The Top rated category gathers the 26 films rated 6.5 or more by at least four viewers around the world. The figures rest on small numbers of votes, so the featured panel on the home page, ordered by the number of people who have rated each film, is a useful second guide.

A few words of Telugu

Titles become friendlier with a little vocabulary. Prema is love, as in Tholi Prema, first love, Endukante Premanta, because it is love, and Prema Vimanam, the aeroplane of love. Manasu is the heart or mind, as in Padi Padi Leche Manasu, the heart that falls and rises again, and Mental Madhilo. Malli means again, as in Malli Raava and Malli Modalaindi, it has begun again. Pelli and kalyanam both mean wedding, as in Pelli Kaani Prasad, Prasad the unmarried, and Kalyanam Kamaneeyam, a wedding is a lovely thing.

Abbayi is a boy and ammayi a girl, as in Phalana Abbayi Phalana Ammayi, such-and-such a boy and such-and-such a girl. Nuvvu is you and nenu is I, as in Nuvvu Nenu. Raja and rani are king and queen, vimanam is an aeroplane, natyam is dance, and vennela, the screen name of a favourite comedian, is moonlight. Godari is the affectionate name of the Godavari river, and nagaram is a city, as in Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi?.

Finding a film

There are several ways to find a film on MoviePublish, and the Finding titles help page describes each one. The search box beside the MoviePublish name accepts a title and shows matching films as you type. The A to Z page lists all 164 films in alphabetical order, the Telugu Movie page lists them by popularity, and the Categories list in the side column gives every category with its count.

Telugu titles are long and are written in English letters in several ways, so a short, distinctive part of the name is the best thing to type: Nagaraniki, Gusagusalade or Sakunamule will each find their film at once. A few titles are plain English, Leader, Lovely, Solo, Sita, Thank You and Happy Wedding among them, and the year on each card will confirm that you have the Telugu film.

What a title page shows

Every film has a page of its own. At the top are the poster, the title, the original Telugu title, the year, the running time and the rating from viewers around the world. Below come the story in English, the genres, the director and the leading actors, and a row of related films from the same categories. The Watch now button opens a list of the official services that carry the film in your country.

Telugu films are widely available on official services. The large international services buy most new releases within weeks of their cinema run, two Indian services were founded specifically for Telugu audiences, and the television networks of the two states run applications with large libraries. The list of regions includes the United States, where Telugu films often open on more screens than in some Indian states, as well as Britain, Canada, Australia and the Gulf. English subtitles are usual for films of the past ten years. Availability changes from month to month, so the list on each title page is the place to look.

The Add to My List button on a title page puts a film on your personal list. That list is written to the browser you are using, calls for neither a sign-up nor a password, and opens from the My List link at the end of the dark menu bar. The My List help page explains how to delete a film from it and how to send it to another device.

A first week

For a newcomer to Telugu cinema, here are seven evenings. On the first, watch Sammohanam. On the second, laugh with Samajavaragamana. On the third, follow the three ages of Malli Raava. On the fourth, go to Goa by accident with Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi?. On the fifth, settle in Vizag with Majili. On the sixth, enjoy the wit of Oohalu Gusagusalade, and on the seventh, share Anni Manchi Sakunamule with the whole family.

A second week might hold 100% Love, Ishq, Jaanu, Mental Madhilo, Ashoka Vanamlo Arjuna Kalyanam, Leader and Uyyala Jampala. For an evening of pure nonsense, try Namo Venkatesa or Hrudaya Kaleyam; for something quiet, Bhanumathi & Ramakrishna or Month of Madhu; and for the newest work, Sarangapani Jathakam, Couple Friendly and Happy Journey.

Viewers who know Telugu cinema only through its epics may be surprised by how gentle these films are. The heroes are clerks, illustrators, radio presenters and unemployed engineers; the conflicts are settled by a conversation, a letter or a song; and the pleasure lies in the writing. That is the point of the selection, and it shows a side of a great film industry that deserves to be better known outside its home.

Choosing by mood

If the categories seem too many, choose by mood. For a room full of relatives, take a family comedy: Samajavaragamana, Anni Manchi Sakunamule or Dhenikaina Ready. For a quiet evening for two, take one of the long love stories, Malli Raava, Jaanu or Malli Malli Idhi Rani Roju. For friends who want to laugh, Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi?, Mithra Mandali and Kirrak Party are the obvious choices, and for a viewer who enjoys good talk above all, anything by Srinivas Avasarala or Mohana Krishna Indraganti will do.

For parents, Vimanam, Good Luck Sakhi and Rajanna have children or young people at their centre and something to discuss afterwards. For a viewer far from home, Subramanyam For Sale, Chal Mohan Ranga and Month of Madhu, whose heroine is a girl raised in America on her first long visit to Vizag, will feel familiar. And for anyone curious about how Telugu people see their own cinema, Sammohanam, First Day First Show and Hrudaya Kaleyam are three affectionate self-portraits, one romantic, one nostalgic and one absurd.

It also helps to know the festivals that shape the release calendar. Sankranti, the harvest festival in the middle of January, is the great season for family films, with kite flying, decorated cattle and patterns of coloured powder drawn at every doorstep, and several of the village comedies here were made for it. Ugadi, the Telugu new year in spring, Dasara in autumn and the summer school holidays are the other favoured dates. Weddings in the films follow the customs of the two states: the bride and groom hold a paste of cumin and jaggery over each other's heads, a curtain is lowered between them, and pearls and rice are poured in handfuls, a scene that Happy Wedding, Varudu Kaavalenu and Ashoka Vanamlo Arjuna Kalyanam all enjoy staging.

Food runs through the films as well. The pickles of the Godavari districts, the biryani and the Irani tea of Hyderabad, the tiffin rooms where friends meet over dosa and coffee: Vindhu Bhojanam and Vivaha Bhojanambu put the feast in their titles, since bhojanam means a meal, and nearly every family film has a scene around a banana leaf, with the elders served first, the children fidgeting and the guest of honour pressed to take a second and a third helping. Viewers new to these films soon learn that an invitation to eat is the surest sign that a quarrel is over.

How the catalogue is kept

Every film on MoviePublish is placed there by hand. An editor reads the story, the certificate and the reviews of every film before listing it, and passes over those that are too violent or too adult for a family room. Summaries are written short and plain, years and running times are confirmed against the public film databases, and posters are the official ones. The featured panel, the sections of the home page and the bracketed counts are regenerated at each refresh of the catalogue.

MoviePublish is a guide. It offers neither films nor downloads; the Watch now button opens an official, licensed service, so the people who made the film are paid when you watch.

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