Razakar: Will Telugu Audience Go The North Way?

Gudur Narayan Reddy, a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is set to release his movie ‘Razakar: Silent Genocide of Hyderabad’ this week.

The film focuses primarily on the actions of the Muslim militia known as Razakars, who engaged in looting and violence leading up to the state’s annexation by the Indian army on September 17th, 1948.

The movie’s promotional material has drawn criticism for its portrayal of caste dynamics, notably featuring a Brahmin boy purportedly being impaled as Razakars look on from a distance.

It aims to present a narrative emphasizing anti-Hindu violence within the erstwhile Hyderabad state, with scenes depicting Razakars assaulting and disrespecting Hindus and dialogues advocating religious conversion, expulsion, or execution.

‘Razakar’ follows a trend of right-wing Hindutva narratives gaining popularity in the North, with films like ‘The Kashmir Files’ and ‘The Kerala Story’ achieving blockbuster success despite their low production costs. Similarly, ‘Article 370’ found moderate success recently.

Being the first of this ‘propaganda’ kind from the Telugu industry, the makers assert that ‘Razakar’ will rank among the top 10 films globally.

However, its reception among Telugu audiences remains uncertain, with poor advance bookings suggesting mixed anticipation.

Whether it will resonate with Southern viewers and replicate the box office success seen by such films in the North remains to be seen.