It may sound strange, but the list of heroines in Tollywood is topless these days.

Quite simply, there are no confirmed number ones. Says Venkatesa Rao, a cinema analyst in Hyderabad, "This should come as something of a record. Nobody is qualified enough to be at the number one heroine slot".

It is not as if there is a dearth of heroines. On the contrary, there is a surfeit of them.

That might precisely the problem, add Venkatesa Rao.

As of now, among the happening actresses are Trisha, Charmi, Genelia, Aarti Agarwal, Jyothika. But all it takes is one flop to unseat their position.

Points out Ravi Reddy, a trade analyst, "despite the hero-centric movies, Telugu films always had space for heroines. There were number ones for most periods. Starting with Anjali Devi, Vani Sri down to Sri Devi, Jayapradha and Vijayshanthi, traditionally it has been a healthy list".

With competition throwing up many names and faces and the heroines themselves without any commitment or staying power, Tollywood remain topless these days.