P rati odu pululu simhala enugulu elakalatho edhava comparison, yelaparam vochhetundi… , says Mahesh Babu in Aagadu . That is the perception of our audience as well. Our heroes have a strong fetish for comparisons with tigers, lions, cheetahs and horses, in that order. That the character they are playing in the film is synonymous with a quality of that animal is supposed to be understood. If a relative newcomer like Sundeep Kishan is called ‘Tiger’, which is the next month’s release, then obviously Ravi Teja has to be something better and bigger than that, so he is ‘Bengal Tiger’. Ask director Sampat Nandi why yet another tiger title and he says, “The Bengal tiger is actually called the ‘Royal Bengal tiger’; it’s the best amongst all tigers.” Well, in this scenario can Balakrishna stay behind? In his next film directed by newcomer Satyadev he is called the ‘Lion’.
Paruchuri Brothers are the pioneers in elevating the status of the heroes by comparing them with tigers and lions. Paruchuri Gopalakrishna says, “Mahesh Babu’s dialogue in Aagadu is unreasonable. Even his father Krishna worked in M.S. Reddy’s Palanati Simham . It is a misconception that we were the ones to begin using such titles. The word ‘Simha’ started with the movie Jaisimha in the 1950s. These titles are suitable for heroes with a mass image and are used to elevate his image. For instance, we call NTR ‘Telugu simham’. From titles like Gopi, Ramu, Venu to Jayasimha, Vijaysimha it has been a long journey. Look at this dialogue — Nenu gatti ga thoda kodithe aa sound ki chacchipothav . Where is simham in this? Nuvvu thodagottinaka nenu padagottakapothe nenu Palanati Simham ela avuthanra is the only time we used the word simham in Palanati Simham . Actually you will find such ones more in dubbing films, Rajinikant used this - Pandhule gumpuluga vosthayi Simham single ga vosthundi and it became very popular.”
It looks like Raghavendra Rao started all this with Kondaveeti Simham . Director B. Gopal observes his film titles Narasimha Naidu and Samarasimha Reddy were an offshoot of the names of personalities in politics at that point of time.
Here’s the list of titles with ‘puli’ and ‘simham’: Kodama Simham, Puli, Chiruta, Bebbuli, Bebbuli Puli, Simha, Tiger Ramudu, Komaram Puli, Lakshmi Narasimha, Bharatasimha Reddy, Seema Simham, Jaya Simha, Singham etc. Last year we saw Ongole Gittha and before that we had Doma, Eega, Kandireega, Race Gurram, Yemo Gurram Egaravocchu, Keelu Gurram, Nagu, Kode Nagu etc. one cant help notice that romantic stories choose peaceful metaphors like Seethakoka Chiluka,Egire Pavurama, Ramachiluka.
When all the titles have been used, there is no choice but to move to ox, horses, snakes. … the list can be long.
