There was a time when a Telugu commercial film almost needed a comedian as much as it needed a villain. The story could pause, the hero could step aside, and a separate comedy track would take over. That formula made stars out of Brahmanandam, Ali and a long list of comedians.
That template is looking increasingly different now.
Look at films like Jathi Ratnalu, MAD, Balagam and Premalu. Comedy is not simply parked in a separate track. It comes from the characters, their relationships and the situations they get trapped in. Priyadarshi and Rahul Ramakrishna have also been part of this shift, with humour often working within the central narrative rather than functioning as a diversion from it.
Even mainstream commercial cinema has moved in the same direction. Vennela Kishore and Sathya continue to be regular choices for comedy, but their scenes are increasingly connected to the main plot instead of existing as completely independent tracks.
The change is not that Telugu cinema has stopped needing comic actors. It is that the screenplay no longer seems to need a comedian simply because every commercial film traditionally had one.
The old question was, “Who is the comedian?” but now The new question is becoming, “Where does the comedy come from?” That is a significant change in the way Telugu films are being written.
