The Top 5 Telugu films of 2014 so far

Here's looking at the best of Telugu cinema so far.

The year began on a sad note with the passing away of thespian Akkineni Nageswara Rao (ANR) on January 22.

Five months later, a fitting tribute was paid to him in the form of his last film Manam, which featured three generations of the Akkinenis. The film was a hit and is still going strong in theatres.

The year so far has seen a mixed bag of films in different genres.

Here's looking at the top five.

Manam
Cast: ANR, Nagarjuna, Naga Chaitanya, Shriya Saran, Samantha
Director: Vikram Kumar

Manam is a landmark film for featuring three generations of Akkinenis, the second family after the Kapoors to have done a film together.

It was a heart-warming, romantic, entertaining and touching film. With rebirth as the main theme, the director Vikram wove a beautiful story set in three different time periods.

The storyline was a bit different for Telugu cinema yet viewers lapped it up.

The Manam magic is still going strong in theatres and will be remembered for years.

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Cast: Ashish Vidyarthi, Raghuvir Yadav, Suhasini Manirathnam, Deepak, Sai, Rushini
Director: Ayodhyakumar Krishnamsetty

A hard-hitting film on the subject of visual impairment and malpractices in orphanages, Minugurulu is well directed.

The subject may be offbeat for Telugu cinema, but it is contemporary and relevant.

The film is realistic and depicts the struggles and the harsh realities of the inmates of an orphanage.

The director showed guts in making such a film given the commercial scenario in the film industry. 

Cast: Avasarala Srinivas, Naga Shourya, Rashi Khanna
Director: Avasarala Srinivas

This debut film of Avasarala Srinivas fetched him critical acclaim. 

The triangular love story was fresh, interesting and entertaining.

Produced by Sai Korrapati, who was also the producer of Eega, the film is having a decent run.

The three main actors played their parts well. 

Cast: Kota Srinivasa Rao, Nara Rohith, Sri Vishnu, Shubhra Aiyappa
Director: Prashant Mandava

Helmed by Prashant Mandava, the film stars Nara Rohith, who seems to be doing films on serious subjects.

Pratinidhi was about corruption and unaccounted money which should logically go to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund rather than to the pockets of a few.

It shows one man’s struggle to achieve this. It seemed to be a far-fetched, slightly Utopian concept, but critics acclaimed it for the subject matter.

The film had some good dialogues too. Rohith put in a good performance; the film mainly rode on his shoulders.

Cast: Naresh, Aamani, Krishnudu, Vennela Kishore, Lakshmi Manchu, Naga Shourya, Chaitanya Krishna, Abhijit, Kishore, Richa Panai, Amita Rao, Krishnesvara Rao
Director: Praveen Sattaru

The film is an anthology of eight stories -- something quite rare in Telugu cinema. 

The stories are about real life people, incidents in their lives, and their moments of anguish, despair, triumph and hope.

Portraying 12 characters and their stories is no mean task, but the director was up to it, and the stories flowed seamlessly.

There is hope in the film. As a concept, this anthology film was interesting though it may not have fared as expected at the box-office.