Now, Telugu film titles take inspiration from animals and birds!

A handful of movies releasing this summer have been named after animals and winged creatures: ‘Zebra’, ‘Octopus’ and ‘Eagle’.

ByY Sunita

Published Feb 07, 2023 | 1:25 PMUpdatedFeb 07, 2023 | 1:25 PM

Telugu film titles animals and birds

Film titles and taglines always make us smile. Either they are whacky, strange or simply stupid but the makers argue that they do make sense.

This summer, we shall see the release of a handful of films made with big and medium budgets bearing the titles of animals and winged creatures.

Butterfly

In December last year, Anupama Parameswaran’s Butterfly was streamed on an OTT platform. The poster had the actor with wings and she even danced for a promotional song which was screened before the end credits.

anupama butterfly titles animals birds

A poster of Anupama Parameswaran’s ‘Butterfly’. (anupamahere/Twitter)

The highlight was that she wore costumes and accessories with butterfly prints and shapes. She also had tiny butterflies stuck over her visage for the song.

As per the story, Geetha (played by Anupama) lives with her sister Vyjayanthi (Bhumika Chawla) after her parents die in an accident. She grows up to be a timid and insecure woman. She even calls her sister “Amma” (mother) though the latter keeps chiding her.

“By the time the film ends, the situations drive Geetha to muster the courage. She develops wings (metaphorically) and is on her own to solve the conflict,” debutant director Satish Ghanta explained the reason behind naming the film Butterfly.

Well, he couldn’t have found a better title for the Telugu story!

Titles in various languages are no longer an issue for Telugu cinema as Tollywood is now in the spotlight by winning awards.

One need not know the meaning of the title as content counts. The stranger and the wonkier the title, the bigger the curiosity level. Nevertheless, the hype does help to a good level.

Zebra & Octopus

Satya Dev’s forthcoming film has been titled Zebra and its tagline is “Luck favours the brave”. Interestingly, the two animals depicted in the movie’s poster don’t look like zebras but horses, which is a different story though!

Octopus is a marine creature and also the title of Prasanth Varma’s up-and-coming project.

The director is not inclined to reveal much about the title as he considers it too early to discuss, or he might even change it. Guess the character in the movie, too, has some qualities like that of an octopus!

Lion & Eagle

Actor Balakrishna always ensures his titles are powerful and resonate with something divine and successful. Most of his films, given a chance, have “Simha” (lion) in them.

No wonder, we give it the benefit of doubt, Veera Simha Reddy had set the cash registers ringing this Sankranthi.

Meanwhile, Ravi Teja-starrer Eagle is on the sets and has completed nearly 60 percent of its shoot.

“This was a working title when we wrote the story. We haven’t yet announced it officially,” Cinematographer Karthik Ghattamaneni told South First.

In the flick, the job that Ravi Teja’s character does is immensely precarious and skilled. “Eagle has an evil to it and it makes an intimidating sound. I thought I’ll go with “Garuda” (Kite or Eagle) but that was too powerful a title. Hence, we zeroed in on Eagle as this has a pan-Indian appeal.”

Ravi Teja’s character has an eagle’s eye, ie, farsightedness, and that is very necessary for his job. “It is an important quality to possess in a high-octane movie such as this,” he added.

The code name used for the “Operation” in the film is “Eagle”. Karthik even thought of “falcon” but let it go.

He kept writing the story and didn’t have any hero in mind when he wrapped it up. At the end of the day, he says a title should have an element of mystique.

In Eagle’s case, the hero has a macho image and it subconsciously affects the film which has something to say.

Liger

The title that was ambitious and supposed to be in the game is Liger — a hybrid offspring of a male lion and a female tiger. However, the power of both the animals didn’t help this Vijay Deverakonda-starrer fare well at the box office.

Well, this proved that titles just help to make some pre-release noise. The morning show decides the run and the fate of the film finally.