1976: The Year Telugu Cinema Came Finally Home After Decades in Madras

For decades, Telugu cinema spoke in the language of Andhra Pradesh but lived and worked in Madras. Its stories came from Telugu villages, its songs celebrated Telugu culture and its stars commanded enormous popularity among Telugu audiences. Yet the industry’s studios, laboratories, recording theatres, technicians and production offices remained concentrated in Kodambakkam.

Hyderabad had already witnessed pioneering efforts to change this situation. Sarathi Studios was established at Ameerpet in 1956, and *Maa Inti Mahalakshmi* became the first Telugu film to be shot entirely in Hyderabad. Akkineni Nageswara Rao had also begun moving his personal and professional base to the city well before the mid-1970s.

Nevertheless, Madras continued to be the functional capital of Telugu cinema.

That began to change decisively in 1976.

From an outpost to an industry centre

The importance of 1976 does not lie in Hyderabad receiving its first major film studio. That had happened two decades earlier. Its significance lies in the arrival of the scale, star power and sustained investment required to turn Hyderabad from an occasional shooting destination into a serious production centre.

The two men who gave the movement its decisive momentum were the reigning giants of Telugu cinema: Akkineni Nageswara Rao and N. T. Rama Rao.

ANR had long argued that an industry making films for Telugu audiences should eventually operate from Telugu soil. Moving production away from Madras, however, involved far more than constructing a shooting floor. A functioning film industry required laboratories, recording facilities, equipment suppliers, set workers, junior artistes, transport networks and trained technicians.

Many in the industry considered a large-scale relocation impractical. Madras already possessed a sophisticated production ecosystem built over several decades. Hyderabad, by comparison, lacked even some of the basic facilities required for uninterrupted filmmaking.

ANR nevertheless committed himself to the move.

Annapurna Studios changes the equation

Annapurna Studios was inaugurated in Hyderabad in January 1976 by President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. Built amid the rocky landscape of what was then the outskirts of the city, the studio represented much more than a new property belonging to a leading actor.

It was a declaration of confidence in Hyderabad’s future.

For ANR, the investment carried substantial financial and professional risk. Producers accustomed to Madras had to be persuaded to shoot in Hyderabad. Artists and technicians had to travel or relocate. Production difficulties that could be solved quickly in Kodambakkam often became complicated in a city where the necessary support system was still developing.

But Annapurna Studios gave mainstream Telugu producers something Hyderabad had previously lacked: a major, professionally backed production base associated with one of the industry’s most dependable stars.

ANR’s stature ensured that the studio could not be dismissed as an isolated experiment. Every film made there brought actors, directors, technicians and production workers to Hyderabad. Each production helped enlarge the city’s cinematic ecosystem.

NTR adds irresistible momentum

Five months later, NTR strengthened the movement by establishing Ramakrishna Cine Studios at Musheerabad.

If Annapurna Studios proved that a major production centre could be created in Hyderabad, NTR’s entry demonstrated that the movement was no longer dependent on one star or one institution. The two biggest names in Telugu cinema had now invested directly in the city’s future.

Their professional rivalry may have generated comparisons and competing loyalties, but in this instance it produced an outcome that benefited the entire industry. Producers wishing to work with ANR or NTR increasingly had reasons to bring their films to Hyderabad. Directors, writers and technicians could no longer treat the city merely as an occasional outdoor location.

The presence of the two studios began creating the critical mass that Sarathi Studios alone had been unable to generate. Hyderabad was gradually becoming a place where films could be planned, produced and completed—not merely shot in part.

Resistance from an established system

The shift did not occur smoothly or overnight.

Madras still possessed superior processing laboratories, recording suites, camera-rental businesses and experienced technical crews. Many film workers had built their homes and careers there and were reluctant to uproot their families. Producers feared delays, additional expenses and a decline in technical quality.

Hyderabad itself presented practical difficulties. The emerging studio areas lacked the roads, transport and amenities that later generations would take for granted. Film equipment and skilled personnel frequently had to be brought from Madras. Post-production work often continued there even when principal photography took place in Hyderabad.

For several years, Telugu cinema effectively operated between the two cities.

Yet 1976 altered the direction of travel. Before that year, moving to Hyderabad was an aspiration pursued by a few pioneers. After the establishment of Annapurna and Ramakrishna studios, it became an industry-wide possibility—and eventually an economic necessity.

Government incentives for films produced within Andhra Pradesh further encouraged the transition. As production activity increased, workers followed. New studios, laboratories, dubbing theatres, production houses and training opportunities emerged. A self-sustaining film economy slowly took shape.

The move also carried cultural meaning. Telugu cinema was no longer content to draw its identity from one region while depending permanently on the infrastructure of another. Building studios in Hyderabad became an expression of professional independence and Telugu self-confidence.

In later years, Hyderabad would grow into one of India’s largest filmmaking centres, accommodating everything from intimate dramas to vast multilingual productions. That achievement rested on many institutions and generations of film workers.

The decisive turn, however, came in 1976 — when Telugu cinema stopped merely imagining a home of its own and began building it.