From Barren land to landmark: 50 years of Annapurna Studios

Today, Annapurna Studios is one of the biggest hubs of film shootings and post-production works in Hyderabad. The studio continues to play key role in Telugu movies and Telugu TV shows. But fifty years ago, the place where Annapurna Studios now stands was nothing but an empty stretch of rocky land on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

It had no roads, no houses, and no signs of the thriving hub it would become.

On August 13, 1975, legendary actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao (ANR) saw potential where others saw desolation. Determined to give Telugu cinema a permanent home in its own land, he laid the foundation stone for Annapurna Studios. That single act became the seed from which not just a studio, but an entire film ecosystem—Jubilee Hills, Film Nagar, and Krishna Nagar—would grow.

The studio was inaugurated on January 14, 1976, by then-President of India Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed.

Over the decades, it evolved into a state-of-the-art filmmaking hub, equipped with multiple shooting floors, expansive outdoor sets, world-class post-production facilities and a film school.

The studio is now run by Akkineni Nagarjuna.