The Telugu film industry was born in the 1920s, with the first Telugu talkie, "Bhishma Pratigna," being released in 1921. However, it wasn't until the 1950s and 1960s that Telugu cinema started gaining momentum, with films like "Mayabazar" (1957) and "Lava Kusa" (1963) becoming huge hits. The 1980s and 1990s saw the rise of action and masala films, with actors like N.T. Rama Rao (NTR) and Akkineni Nageswara Rao (ANR) dominating the industry.