1: Nenokkadine () is a 2014 Indian Telugu-language psychological action thriller film directed by Sukumar. Produced by 14 Reels Entertainment and distributed by Eros International, the film stars Mahesh Babu in the lead role alongside Kriti Sanon (in her film debut), Nassar, Pradeep Rawat and Kelly Dorji. The story follows Gautham, a rock musician suffering from schizophrenia and missing 25 percent of his brain's grey matter, as he embarks on a quest to find his parents with the help of his girlfriend, Sameera, a journalist.
1: Nenokkadine features cinematography by R. Rathnavelu and editing by Karthika Srinivas. The music was composed by Devi Sri Prasad. Principal photography commenced in April 2012 and concluded in October 2013. Filming took place in various locations including London, Belfast, Bangkok, and Indian cities such as Hyderabad, Mumbai, Goa, Chennai, and Bangalore. Produced on a budget of ₹60–70 crore, it was the most expensive Telugu film at the time of its release.
1: Nenokkadine was released on 10 January 2014 across approximately 1,500 screens during the Sankranti festival season. The film received mixed reviews, with praise directed towards its music, cinematography, action sequences, and cast performances. However, the complexity of the screenplay and its length garnered criticism. The film eventually became a box office failure. It won three awards from eight nominations at the 4th SIIMA Awards and two awards at the 11th CineMAA Awards. Over time, the film was reevaluated and gained a cult following for its unique narrative, technical finesse and Babu's performance. It was also listed among Film Companion's "25 Greatest Telugu Films of the Decade."
Plot Gautham is a schizophrenic rock musician who is missing 25% of his grey matter. He hallucinates a mysterious person he believes is one of the three murderers of his parents. As a child, Gautham was convinced that he was an orphan and assumed that his parents were dead; he does not remember their names or what they looked like. At one of his concerts, Gautham sees one of the three men and chases him. Sameera, a journalist at the concert, films Gautham fighting his imaginary opponent. Gautham surrenders to the police after "killing" the man, confessing that he killed three men: one in Belfast, one in Pune, and one just now in Hyderabad. He is released from custody after Sameera broadcasts the video on television.
According to the psychiatrist, if Gautham can hallucinate a person other than the three men, he can be treated. Gautham goes to Goa on vacation. Sameera stalks him, convincing him that two people are stalking him: a journalist who wants to interview him (imaginary), and a person claiming to be his fan (real). Gautham begins to fall in love with Sameera. He saves her from a group of people trying to murder her; on an isolated island together, Gautham learns the truth behind the fourth imaginary person and writes Sameera off as a disturbed journalist. By the time he learns about Sameera's intentions, she has left for Hyderabad; Gautham pursues her. In Hyderabad, Gautham accidentally spoils Sameera's birthday plans, infuriating her.
Although he is convinced that he has made an enemy to cope with being an orphan, a mysterious person tries to kill Sameera, but Gautham saves her. Sameera learns that the mysterious person is Antonio Rosarius (one of the people behind Gautham's parents' death), a Goa-based crime boss who wants to kill her because she tried to expose the presence of hydrogen cyanide in seeds sold by Rosarius' company, AG1. Gautham meets Rosarius in the lobby of Sameera's office building. Assuming that he is an illusion, he shoots Rosarius dead. By the time Gautham realizes Rosarius is really dead, and learns that his parents were really murdered. He catches an aged taxi driver who was stalking him (another of the three men he imagined), and discovers that Rosarius, along with an NRI in London, killed his parents; his father gave a bag to the taxi driver to deliver to Gautham.
In the bag is an old Rubik's Cube, a key, and a British coin. Gautham and Sameera leave for London, where they and their driver, Gulaab Singh, escape from a murder attempt; Gautham's manager, Michael, is killed. The Rubik's Cube, when solved a certain way, reveals a safe deposit box number in which Gautham finds a preserved rice sample. After escaping another murder attempt in a parking lot, he eludes the police and the two men with Sameera and Singh's help. One of the men, a fan, seeks revenge for his father (one of the other murderers, according to the aged taxi driver), who was killed by Gautham in Belfast when he performed there. Gautham learns that the aged taxi driver he met previously is a businessman and the murderer; the person hit by the businessman's car in Gautham's presence was the actual, innocent taxi driver.
Gautham and the businessman confront each other. The businessman reveals that he and Gautham's father were also successful businessmen. Gautham's father and the businessman were best friends and worked in the same company, Sinto 1. They worked on cultivating Golden rice, a variety that could grow in any weather. When Gautham's father refused to sell it in favor of distributing it globally for free, the businessman and Rosarios killed his parents. When he refuses to tell Gautham about his parents, Gautham kills him. On his way to the airport, Gautham passes the school he had attended in his childhood and hears children singing a rhyme. It reminds him of a similar rhyme he learnt from his mother, and he remembers his way back to his house. At his house (a dilapidated villa), Gautham finds a photo of his parents, Chandrasekhar and Kalyani. He later introduces the rice variety at a global convention as "the second green revolution", and the film ends with Gautham standing in his field of golden rice.
Cast
Mahesh Babu as Gautham / Gautham Chandrashekhar Gautham Krishna as young Gautham Kriti Sanon as Sameera, Gautham's girlfriend Nassar as an unnamed businessman, Chandrashekar's friend Pradeep Rawat as Taxi Driver Sayaji Shinde as Inspector Jaan Baasha Kelly Dorji as Antonio Rosarius Posani Krishna Murali as Gulaab Singh Anand as entrepreneur Chandrashekhar, Gautham's father Anu Hasan as Kalyani, Gautham's mother John Kokken as Antonio Rosarius' henchman Banerjee as Sameera's boss Vikram Singh as Antonio Rosarius' henchman Ravi Varma as Michael Surya as Gautham's doctor Srinivasa Reddy as Constable K. S. Reddy Narsing Yadav as bus driver Kadambari Kiran Kumar as bus conductor Naveen Polishetty as Naveen, the taxi driver's son Amit Tiwari as the businessman's henchman Sophie Choudry in the item number "London Babu"
Production
Development After completing 100% Love (2011), Sukumar began working on a psychological thriller with Mahesh Babu in mind as the protagonist because he felt that Babu had universal appeal. Babu met Sukumar on the set of Businessman (2012) in Goa, and listened to the script for 25 minutes. Although Sukumar could not describe the story well in the noisy restaurant, Babu agreed to appear in the film within half an hour. Sukumar worked on 1: Nenokkadine script for two months, and considered it his dream project.
Ram Achanta, Gopichand Achanta and Anil Sunkara of 14 Reels Entertainment, who produced Babu's Dookudu (2011) and Aagadu (2014), agreed to produce 1: Nenokkadine after hearing the script. Asked about his frequent collaboration with them, Babu said that Sukumar clearly indicated the risk of budget escalation and longer production and said that he and Sukumar could be viewed as criminals if it was produced by someone else. Sunil Lulla and Andrew Hefferman were credited as co-producers, and Koti Paruchuri was its executive producer. The film, introduced on 12 February 2012 in Hyderabad, received its title in May 2013.
Casting
Babu agreed to be fit and healthy, since the film emphasised action scenes. He followed a 12-week Dynamic Transformation Plan (DTP) supervised by Kris Gethin, developing his abdominal muscles and losing weight. Babu then followed a Yoda Three Training regime (Y3T), supervised by Neil Hill, further developing his muscles. His stylist, Ashwin Malwe, said that his appearance and style would be "sophisticated and classy" in the film. Sukumar had Babu wear eyeglasses, since the director felt that audiences tended to consider a bespectacled character to be perfectionistic and positive, and the actor's hairstyle was changed.
Tamannaah was considered for the female lead, since the producers were impressed with her performance in 100% Love. She declined the offer, citing scheduling conflicts, and the Producer's Council told her not to sign for any new films until she completed her current assignments. After auditioning two actresses, Sukumar chose Kajal Aggarwal in March 2012 as the female lead. She was replaced by Kriti Sanon in October 2012, due to scheduling conflicts. Sanon was signed for Heropanti (2014) after completing one shooting schedule for 1: Nenokkadine, and divided her time between the films. Sanon, who was involved in several action scenes filmed on the sea, was apprehensive about a scene in which Babu took her from a yacht since she did not know how to swim.
Babu's seven-year-old son, Gautham Krishna, was chosen to play the younger version of the protagonist in his Telugu cinema debut. According to Sukumar, Gautham looked like the actor did as a child. When the director approached Babu and his wife, Namrata Shirodkar, Gautham Krishna was only six and they were apprehensive. His introduction scene was filmed silently by Peter Hein, since the boy was afraid of gunfire. Nassar, Pradeep Rawat, Kelly Dorji, Sayaji Shinde and Anu Hasan and Vikram Singh were cast in other supporting roles. Naveen Polishetty played a supporting role as the son of Pradeep Rawat's character in the film.
Jacqueline Fernandez was approached to perform an item number in the film, but the producers failed to make a deal and instead signed Sophie Choudry after seeing her performance in "Aala Re Aala" from Shootout at Wadala (2013). For her first Telugu song, Choudry joined the film's set in September 2013. Sukumar said about the item number, "It's a superstar's film and it should reach all. Item numbers are common these days, and people expect to see them. The situation was that Babu had to go to a pub to get information about the person he was looking for. So there was an occasion to put in an item number".
Crew
R. Rathnavelu, who collaborated with Sukumar on Arya (2004) and Jagadam (2007), was the film's director of photography in his return to Telugu cinema after seven years. Rathnavelu called the film "more challenging aesthetically" and compared it to Enthiran (2010), which he considered his technically toughest film. He created the film's visual style in a week with a variety of cameras, such as Red Epic, Body Rigs, Doggies and an underwater scuba camera. For the climaxes, Rathnavelu shifted from chrome to black-and-white to full colour in synchronisation with the story's mood.
Rathnavelu had to address the protagonist's mood swings and hallucinations, replicating scenes with minor differences. The film was shot in locations with a variety of climates, and new technical crews were hired in those places. Sukumar said, "We looked at world technicians and saw their work and can use whatever we learnt" and called it a "new yet learning experience" .