Is Sekhar Kammula Realising This Mistake?

There’s a certain kind of trust that comes with a Sekhar Kammula film. Not hype and noise, just honesty. You walk in expecting real characters, clean emotions, and stories that feel like they're happening right in front of you. That’s his kind of brand, and that’s where his strength lies. But here’s the flip side about Sekhar that no one talks about enough.

In fact, the gap between his films is getting bigger than the films themselves. It’s known that Kammula doesn’t rush, but his scripts take a huge time, casting takes like forever, and everything is built with care. While this sounds ideal, in today’s cinema, taking a huge time doesn’t build quality, but builds pressure. Every year of delay adds expectation, piling up interests on investment, and causing a loss even before the film is made. Struck in the trap of perfection, it looks like Sekhar Kammula is not realising his mistake.

Earlier, Kammula’s films felt organic and effortless, but now he is coming up with movies that have unrealistic content. But then, there’s a bigger issue. His absence from those rooted films is creating a visible gap in Telugu cinema. Right now, the industry is dominated by pan-India ambitions, as every director wants to carve out only bigger and larger-than-life films. The format once created by Kammula is not being visited by any now. And when a filmmaker like Kammula goes missing for years, it’s not just about one less film.

It’s about an entire storytelling zone going inactive. On the other hand, some other directors are trying the Sekhar Kammula kind of films, but they are not even coming close, that’s another sad story.