Villains are sent flying through the air to pulsating guitar riffs.\n\nSocio-economic problems are solved with sermonizing monologues.\n\nYou can rest assured that good shall prevail - since the protagonist can change the\n\nworld at will.\n\nWe are in the presence of the Telugu hero: a character that spills over from myth onto\n\nthe screen. The celluloid hero speaks like you and me and looks like us, but can\n\nperform superhuman feats.\n\nThe Age of Heroes looks at the historical-cultural factors that have produced cult\n\nheroes like N.T. Rama Rao, Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan - and Vijayashanti, who\n\nembodies the concept of the female hero.\n\nWith the growing popularity of Telugu films across the world, especially blockbusters\n\nlike Bahubali and RRR, Mukesh Manjunath's book - which won the inaugural\n\nHarperCollins-MAMI contest for writing on cinema - is a timely and fascinating study of\n\nTelugu cinema, which entertains an audience close to 10 crore globally.