Mukesh Manjunath was the winner of the inaugural HarperCollins±MAMI contest for writing on cinema in 2019. He has written for web publications, comedy shows and online streaming platforms. He lives in Mumbai.
<p>Villains are sent flying through the air to pulsating guitar riffs.</p><p>Socio-economic problems are solved with sermonizing monologues.</p><p>You can rest assured that good shall prevail-since the protagonist can change the world at will.</p><p>We are in the presence of the Telugu hero: a character that spills over from myth onto the screen. The celluloid hero speaks like you and me and looks like us, but can perform superhuman feats.</p><p>The Age of Heroes looks at the historical-cultural factors that have produced cult heroes like N.T. Rama Rao, Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan-and Vijayashanti, who embodies the concept of the female hero.</p><p>With the growing popularity of Telugu films across the world, especially blockbusters like Bahubali and RRR, Mukesh Manjunath’s book-which won the inaugural HarperCollins-MAMI contest for writing on cinema-is a timely and fascinating study of Telugu cinema, which entertains an audience close to 10 crore globally.</p>
