Telugu romantic fiction—spanning pulp novels, short‑story anthologies, and serialized magazines—has long employed the figure of the actress (cinema heroine) as a narrative fulcrum. This paper investigates how actresses are constructed, idealised, and problematised within contemporary Telugu romantic stories (2000‑2025). By analysing a purposive sample of 68 short stories and 12 novella‑length works from major publishing houses (e.g., Sahiti Prakashana , Manorama Books , Vijetha Publications ), the study identifies recurrent motifs (the “star‑like beloved,” the “film‑inspired rebel,” the “tragic muse”) and examines their intersection with broader socio‑cultural discourses on gender, modernity, and media convergence. The findings reveal a dual trajectory: while actresses often embody aspirational modern femininity, they simultaneously serve as sites of moral ambivalence, reflecting the tension between the star‑cult of Tollywood and evolving expectations of women in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
