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 Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...

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, Hy ...

. 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 '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

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 b ...

, 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 or ...

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 documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

and

finance Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

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 second- ...

, his only connection with Telugu cinema was stray magazines. At that time, for a

cinephile Cinephilia (; also cinemaphilia or filmophilia) is the term used to refer to a passionate interest in films, film theory, and film criticism. The term is a portmanteau of the words cinema and philia, one of the four ancient Greek words for lo ...

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 the ...

, 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 Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwest Santa Clara County in the U.S. state of California. 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, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. 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 device ...

, 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 advertise ...

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 Mallemala Shyam Prasad Reddy is an Indian film producer in the Telugu film industry. He won three Nandi Awards. He made his debut, as a producer film, with ''Thalambralu'', in 1987. His father, M. S. Reddy, was a film writer and film producer ...

, K. S. 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 was his 30th film production venture, while h ...

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 ex ...

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 began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' 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 NRI or Nri may refer to : * Kingdom of Nri, an Igbo kingdom that flourished between the 10th century and early 20th century * National Radio Institute, a now defunct post-secondary vocational correspondence school * National Resources Inventory * N ...

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 w ...

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 th ...

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, 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 ...

, 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. CNBC TV18 Prime HD Having launched on 26 October 2011, this is CNBC TV18's premium service and the first business channel in India t ...

wrote, "''Idlebrain'' is an online Telugu movie

ready reckoner A ready reckoner is a printed book or table containing pre-calculated values, often multiples of given amounts. They were widely used in shops and by tradesmen before the advent of cheap electronic calculators, metric weights and measures and ...

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 The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

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 university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

, ''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