Idlebrain.com is an Indian entertainment

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wikip ...

that features information, news, and reviews on

Telugu cinema Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Telugu cinema is based in Film Nagar, ...

. It is one of the oldest websites on the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a ''internetworking, network of networks'' that consists ...

focusing on Telugu films. The site is especially popular for its film reviews written by the founder Jeevi. It was founded in 1999 by G. V. Ramana (better know by his

nom de plume A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

Jeevi), a graduate of

BITS Pilani Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani (BITS Pilani) is a Deemed university in Pilani, Jhunjhunu, India. It focuses primarily on higher education and research in engineering and sciences. After expansion to a campus in Dubai, it has ...

, with the help of his friend Sunil Krishna. As of August 2022, it has an

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual ...

of nearly 1000 Telugu films reviewed by Jeevi starting with '' Iddaru Mitrulu'' (1999). The site features entertainment news, reviews, box office results, trailers, interviews, movie schedules, chat room, photo galleries and other features related to

. It is considered to be among the most popular websites related to Telugu film industry.

History

G. V. Ramana (born ), popularly known by his

Jeevi, is a graduate of

who had short stints in

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. ...

and finance firms. While he was working in a private firm in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

, his only connection with Telugu cinema was stray magazines. At that time, for a cinephile like him staying outside

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to t ...

, latest information related to Telugu films was scarce and hard to find and so he decided to launch a website. In December 1999 he launched ''Idlebrain.com'', a website covering

, with the help of his friend Sunil Krishna who was based in Sunnyvale,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. Initially, Sunil hosted the site on his home computer. Jeevi used to contribute to the fledgling site personally while also keeping his dayjob. Armed with a

digital camera A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile devic ...

, Jeevi used to stop on roads and click at wayside

billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

s with eye-catching posters and upload them on his site. In the summer of 2001, he resigned from his job and started working on the website fulltime. In about a year, Jeevi started interacting with producers for getting the latest information from official sources. Producers like Shyam Prasad Reddy,

K. S. Rama Rao K. S. Rama Rao is an Indian film producer known for his works in Telugu cinema. Under his production house Creative Commercials, he has produced a number of notable films, including ''Mounageetam, Abhilasha'' (1983)'', Rakshasudu'' (1986)'', S ...

, Chalasani Ramesh, and

Sravanthi Ravi Kishore Sravanthi Ravi Kishore is an Indian film producer known for his works in Telugu cinema. He owns the film production company " Sri Sravanthi Movies", known for presenting hit romantic comedy films. Red was his 30th film production venture, while ...

evinced interest regarding the information on the website. Jeevi also started writing reviews of films on the site. As of October 2008, he reviewed over 500 Telugu films and 100 Hindi films. His reviews quickly became popular in the industry and among movie buffs. His review format covers assessment of a film's plot, actors' performance, music, cinematography, and other technical aspects. In October 2008 Jeevi claimed that ''Idlebrain'' had about one

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2,2,3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. For ...

daily visitors, with about 40% of them from the US and 50% from metros in India.

Reception

In August 2002, Geetanath V. of '' The Hindu'' opined that the website was "not only colourful, but also has several attractive features contrary to its name". It added that ''Idlebrain.com'' was the most happening among the various film websites. In April 2006, Y. Sunita Chowdhary of ''The Hindu'' called ''Idlebrain.com'' "a leading player in its segment." In its October 2008 issue, lifestyle magazine ''Hyderabad Josh'' noted that ''Idlebrain'' is popular among the NRI community especially in the US. It further mentioned that ''Idlebrain'' had a sizeable following among movie buffs in metropolitan cities of India like

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of ...

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

, and

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. In August 2009,

CNBC TV18 CNBC TV18 is an Indian pay television business and financial news channel owned by NBCUniversal and TV18 TV18 Broadcast Limited (formerly Global Broadcast News and IBN18 Broadcast Limited) is an Indian entity belonging to Network18 Gr ...

wrote, "''Idlebrain'' is an online Telugu movie ready reckoner for film buffs who find themselves working in a distant land." It also noted, "While most film websites run on industry gossip, what strikes you about ''Idlebrain.com'' is information about overseas screenings for Telugu expats starved of their regular dose of popular movie stars. Jeevi's reviews are particularly popular among the Telugu NRI community, so much so that DVD rental prices are decided based on his ratings." The website won the Andhra Pradesh Cinegoers’ Association award for the Best Telugu Film website in 2008. It has been noted by distributors that Jeevi's reviews affect the box office performance of films in the overseas market and the DVD rental prices are decided based on his ratings. In the 2017 book ''Revisiting Star Studies: Cultures, Themes and Methods'' edited by Sabrina Qiong Yu, Professor of Film and Chinese Studies at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick unive ...

, ''Idlebrain.com'' is mentioned as a pioneer of a major shift in Telugu cinema in which the public consumption of film information widened from print media to internet and digital media.

References

{{Reflist Indian film websites Film review websites Internet properties established in 1999 Telugu cinema 1999 establishments in India