Debate: ‘Valimai’, ‘Thalaivi’ Vs ‘Pushpa’, ‘RRR’, ‘Radhe Shyam’

Recently, Ajith-starrer ‘Valimai’ had the same title for both Telugu and Tamil versions. The Telugu audience have been at a loss to understand the meaning of ‘Valimai’, which is a pure Tamil word meaning ‘strength’. The other day, Dulquer Salmaan-starrer ‘Hey Sinamika’ had the same title for both Telugu and Tamil versions. The title doesn’t possess Telugu nativity at all.

In ‘Hey Sinamika’, Kajal Aggarwal’s name is a Tamil one. Last year, Kangana Ranaut’s Jayalalitha biopic had ‘Thalaivi’ as the title for all versions. These instances have sparked a debate across social media platforms, with many Telugus wondering what is the obsession with retaining Tamil titles.

SR Prabhu, a well-known Kollywood producer, has backed the trend. He tweets that retaining Tamil-language titles has nothing to do with Tamil pride. “There is no pride factor in this. No artiste from any language will take the audience for granted. It is the comfort and sounding,” he says, adding that the trend was started by Tollywood’s ‘Baahubali’ and ‘Pushpa’.

The argument has drawn a mixed response. ‘Baahubali’ and ‘Pushpa’, ‘KGF’ and ‘Saaho’, ‘Spyder’ and ‘RRR’ have a universal ring because they are not Telugu words per se. The first two are proper nouns. ‘KGF’ stands for Kolar Gold Fields’…

Sooner or later, filmmakers will realize that using the same title for all languages can backfire when the audience don’t get the meaning. This is not to say that ‘Valimai’ and ‘Thalaivi’ flopped in Telugu because of the titles. Far from it. But it is also true that better titles would have been appealing.