The Telugu film industry is probably the only Indian film industry that encourages talent from all over the country, more than any other film industry in the country, because we can find people from all over the country working in various parts of filmmaking in Telugu films.
This is not the case with other industries, and beyond that, the worst part is, these industries continue to have a very unfriendly opinion of Telugu films, despite their many achievements and welcoming nature.
This bias was clear in Rajnikanth’s new film Jailer, directed by Nelson Dileep Kumar. In the movie, there are several superstars involved, along with Rajnikanth, who can be seen in short cameos. There was Mohanlal from Malayalam and Shiva Rajkumar from Kannada, who both got superb and elevating cameos. Even Bollywood got the same treatment.
On the other hand, while Telugu was represented with Sunil in the film, his characterization is more of a comic relief, who is in love with heroines, particularly in love with Tamannaah, which is played off for laughs.
This sort of reflects how the Tamil industry seems to be looking at the Telugu industry, or so it seems, which is something to be thought about by the Telugu filmmakers.
-Kaleti Suresh Kumar