Of late Indian filmmakers are fascinated by spiritual and mythological entertainers.
Tollywood stars are also set to enthral movie lovers donning mythological characters. Prabhas played the roles of Lord Ram, Karna, Lord Shiva while Mahesh Babu is playing the role of Lord Ram in Varanasi.
Rajamouli said , “On the first day, when Mahesh walked in Lord Rama’s get-up for the photoshoot, I had goosebumps. Mahesh has the charm of Krishna, but the calmness of Rama. Still, I was confident. I even set that photo as my wallpaper and then removed it so that no one would see it.”
Director Dolly, who cast Pawan Kalyan as Lord Krishna in socio-fantasy Gopala Gopala, says “Despite his stardom, Pawan Kalyan agreed to portray Lord Krishna in Gopala Gopala because he appreciated the refinements we made to his character in the Telugu adaptation. Unlike in the Hindi original Oh My God, we made certain cultural adjustments that resonated with Telugu audiences.” He added, “We pray to Lord Krishna, Shiva, and Hanuman at home, yet when they are depicted in films, we call it mythology—which is unfair. Ramayana and Mahabharata are not myths; they are historical epics that took place in the real world.”
He took a dig at Western superheroes, saying, “Characters like Spider-Man and Superman are purely fictional, whereas our gods are real and continue to bless us.” Writer Gopi Mohan highlighted that Telugu cinema has a rich legacy in portraying divine and epic characters. He noted that stars like the legendary NTR and ANR, followed by Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna, Jr NTR, have all explored such roles and proven their mettle, placing Tollywood ahead in this space.