My List of Top 12 Production Design works in Telugu Films

Production Design

Production Design is all about creating and organizing a physical world around the story of a film.As the head of the Art Department, the production designer is incharge of making sure that every shooting location is perfectly prepared and is on point with the vision of the filmmaker. Visual Storytelling is the language of the film, so the visuals captured by the camera matter immensely. Locations, sets, costumes, lights, etc. all work together to create a world on screen and this world plays a crucial part in telling your film story.

Well, the term ‘Production Design’ was introduced to the Telugu film world recently. Previously, they were credited as ‘Art Director’. So in this article, I’ll be talking about my favourite Tollywood art directors’ works. I will not be involving Bahubali in my list for obvious reasons.

Here’s the list of my top 12  Production Design works of this decade in Telugu Film Industry.

12.Kanche –  Sahi Suresh

‘Kache’ is a movie based on WW2. Krish Jagarlamudi was so keen on creating an ambience that he used original WW2 weaponry in the movie. ‘Kanche’ is surely a good movie with great visual sets of war fields, old libraries, German streets etc.

11.Lie – Kolla Avinash

Hanu Raghavapudi(Director of ‘Lie’) is really brilliant in staging the scenes. And his staging definitely demands some creative sets. Movie ‘Lie’ looks rich because of its great quality Production Design.

10.Ghazi – Shivam Rao

Since 75% of this movie runs in a submarine, production design plays a key role in keeping the audience glued to their seats and you already know how successful it was.

9.Bharat Ane Nenu – Suresh Selvarajan

There are many Telugu movies with Assembly scenes in them but none of them recreated the Assembly as accurately as it was done in ‘Bharat Ane Nenu’. This movie has a beautiful Production Design but I felt lighting and framing(D.O.P work) failed this beauty.

8.Brahmotsavam –  Thota Tharani

You might find the inclusion of this movie in this list, for that matter in any list funny. But National award winner Thota Tharani’s work in this film is marvelous. It’s like he’s got all the money in the world to create sets for this movie. Sets used in songs like Bala Tripurmani are something that tollywood has never seen, so fresh and unique.

7.Agnyaathavaasi – A.S.Prakash

Same goes with this movie.This entry might sound funny but Production Design and frames with truly balanced colours is the only reason I was able to watch Agnyaathavaasi four times on big screen (Yes!! You read it correctly. I had to.The disaster couldn’t be avoided.Now, Don’t feel bad for me :P)

6.Manu – Shiv Kumar Akula

In my previous article I mentioned how beautiful Manu is in every craft. Production Design of Manu is good enough to take you to its own world. 

5.Andala Rakshasi – S. Rama Krishna

Andala Rakshasi is one of the main reasons I think  Hanu Raghavapudi is so creative. With the help of his Art director, he made a face with beer bottles,birds with screws and nuts etc. Rajamouli once mentioned that in his movie ‘Eega’ ,the fly training with the filament and the tape was Raghavapudi’s idea and this guy used all his talent to build the world of ‘Andala Rakshasi’

4.Rangasthalam – S.Ramakrishna,Monika Niggotre

I don’t even need to take the help screenshots to make you think about the sets of this movie. Ramakrishna masterfully created an entire village and took us back to the 1980’s effortlessly.

3.Awe – Sahi Suresh

If you have watched this film then you know why this is on my list. Six different sets were designed for six different acts based on the genre of the scene. This can easily be ranked as one of the best among all Indian movies in the Production Design category.

2.Mahanati – Shivam Rao

Recreating the sets of old movies itself is a huge and difficult task but in this film not only it was done with ease and perfection but other sets such as  Maduravani’s house and office were also top-notch. ‘NTR – Kathanayakudu’ also tried something similar but the concept of colours made Mahanati the best. Production Design also travels along the phases of life of Savitri and screenshots above explain this. It was all bright and red when she was growing. Then evolved brighter and gold when she was successful. Everything was dark and broken during her fall. Engaging and Innovative :’)

1.Ee Nagaraniki Emindi – Latha Tarun

Initially I was confused between ‘Mahanati’ and ‘ENE’ but when I realised that the Production Design of ENE was made on a very low budget when compared to Mahanati I felt this was the best. Not only the sets that are present in the images I attached but there were many other amazing sets that were present in many other scenes like when Karthik’s head injury cuts or the ones in jail or when Shirley sings etc were beautifully designed. That is the reason why ‘Ee Nagariki Emindi’ tops my list. 

Special Mention:

(Though this movie doesn’t belong to this decade) Athadu and Arjun by Thota Tharani. Remember that entire Madhurai temple set?

Janatha Garage,Dhada,Anaganaga O Dheerudu are also some remarkable works.

This is my list of favourite Production Design works. Comment below your favourites and share them with me.

Thanks for reading  – Yashwanth Seelam 😀