Idlebrain.com is an Indian entertainment website dedicated to

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

. Established in 1999 by G. V. Ramana, popularly known as Jeevi, a graduate of

BITS Pilani The Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (BITS Pilani) is a private deemed university in Pilani, Rajasthan, India. It focuses primarily on higher education and research in engineering and sciences. BITS Pilani was one of the first ...

, the site is among the oldest websites on the Internet focused on Telugu films. The site features film reviews, news, box office updates, trailers, interviews, photo galleries, and movie schedules. Jeevi's film reviews, starting with '' Iddaru Mitrulu'' (1999), have made the site particularly popular, with an archive of over 1,000 reviews as of April 2023. It is regarded as a prominent online resource for Telugu cinema.

History

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

nom de plume A pen name or nom-de-plume 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 name may be used to make the author's na ...

Jeevi, is a graduate of

who had short stints in software and finance firms. While he was working in a private firm in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

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

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

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

Sunnyvale Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States. Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real and Highway 101 and is bordered by portions of San Jose to the north, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. 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, also called a digicam, is a camera that captures photographs in Digital data storage, digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film or film stock. Dig ...

, Jeevi used to stop on roads and click at wayside billboards 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 Mallemala Shyam Prasad Reddy is an Indian film and television producer known for his work in the Telugu entertainment industry. He founded Mallemala Entertainments, a production company behind many successful films and TV shows. He is particula ...

K. S. Rama Rao K. S. Rama Rao is an Indian film producer known for his work in Telugu cinema. He founded the production company Creative Commercials in 1973, initially as a radio advertising business, before transitioning to film production in 1983. Rama Rao ...

, 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 Red is the color at the long wavelengt ...

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. F ...

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 ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'' 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. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

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, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

, and

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

. In August 2009,

CNBC TV18 CNBC TV18 is an Indian pay television business and financial news channel operated as a joint venture between NBCUniversal and Network18 Group. History The network has its origins in ABNi, an Indian sub-feed of the Dow Jones-led Asia Bu ...

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 ''Revisiting Star Studies: Cultures, Themes and Methods'' (2017), Kiranmayi Indraganti remarked that ''Idlebrain.com'' was 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