() is a 2013 Indian Telugu-language action comedy drama film written and directed by Trivikram Srinivas. Produced by Sri Venkateswara Cine Chitra and Reliance Entertainment, the film stars Pawan Kalyan, Samantha and Pranitha Subhash. Nadhiya, Boman Irani and Brahmanandam feature in supporting roles. The film score and soundtrack album were composed by Devi Sri Prasad. Prasad Murella was the cinematographer.
The film focuses on Gautham Nanda, a business heir who acts as a driver in his estranged aunt Sunanda's house to mend her strained relationship with his grandfather Raghunandan who expelled her for marrying against his wishes years before. Principal photography began in January 2013 and ended in July 2013, with the film being primarily shot in and around Hyderabad. Significant portions were shot in Pollachi and Europe.
Prior to the film's release, on 22 September 2013, 90-minute footage of the film was leaked online and was widely shared leading to a delay in its release. The film was released on 27 September 2013 and received positive reviews. Despite the leak of half of the film prior to its release, emerged as a major box office success, and went on to become the highest grossing film in the Telugu language, surpassing Magadheera (2009), with earnings of over ₹131 crore, whilst also collecting a distributor's share of ₹74.88 crore. It was the second highest-grossing film produced from Tollywood in terms of overall box office, due to Magadheera being one of the few Telugu films prior to Baahubali: The Beginning (2015) to receive a widespread dubbed release. It was later surpassed by the after mentioned Baahubali: The Beginning. The film won five Nandi Awards, four Filmfare Awards South, and the B. Nagi Reddy Memorial Award. It was remade in Kannada as Ranna (2015), in Bengali as Abhiman (2016) and in Tamil as Vantha Rajavathaan Varuven (2019).
Plot In Milan, business tycoon Raghunandan reveals to his grandson, Gautham Nanda, his wish to mend relations with his estranged daughter Sunanda, whom he disowned for marrying Rajashekar against his wishes. Determined to reconcile the family before Raghunandan's 80th birthday, Gautham travels to Hyderabad, India. Disguised as a driver named Siddhartha, he earns the trust of Rajashekar, who has suffered a heart attack, and his family by admitting Rajashekar to the hospital.
Gautham, posing as Siddhartha, is hired as a driver by Sunanda and befriends her eldest daughter, Prameela, while Sunanda's second daughter, Sasi, grows suspicious of him and his friend Paddu, Rajashekar's nurse. Sunanda discloses to Gautham that she is aware of who he is and warns him from doing anything with an intent to take her back to Raghunandan whom she refuses to forgive as the latter shot Rajashekar in his arm in a fit of rage when they got married after eloping. Gautham saves Prameela from a suicide attempt and she divulges that she was trying to run away with Rohith, whom Gautham assumed to be the kidnapper. Prameela requests Gautham to bring Rohith to her as he is being forced to marry Neelamani, daughter of a fierce factionist Siddhappa Naidu, the very next day and Gautham obliges to her plea.
Gautham and Paddu travel to Siddhappa's village to retrieve Rohith, but Sasi inadvertently falls into their jeep and suffers from amnesia. To protect her, Gautham pretends to be her lover, whom she ran away with against her mother's wishes. Gautham and Paddu successfully rescue Rohith, but are pursued by Siddhappa and his men. During a confrontation, Sasi regains her memory. Siddhappa then confronts Rajashekar and Sunanda, demanding compensation for the damage caused to her daughter and their reputation. To prevent further conflict, Sunanda offers to get Sasi married to Siddhappa's elder son and Rajashekar dismisses Gautham from his job. Sasi confesses her love for Gautham, which is overheard by her cousin.
Baddham Bhaskar, an affluent NRI and Siddhappa's nephew, arrives as a guest at Sunanda's home. Sunanda reveals to her assistant Murthy that Bhaskar was her previous assistant, who had become wealthy by discovering diamonds in a plot he bought in Uganda with the ₹2 lakh he stole from her. Gautham traps Bhaskar, who has a penchant for women and desires to marry Sasi and joins him as his assistant, entering Sunanda's residence with his support.
Bhaskar's conspiracies to get close to Sasi are constantly thwarted by Gautham who takes Sasi to the railway station for eloping to Chennai apparently. Siddhappa's men arrive at the station after learning from Sasi's cousin about her love for Gautham but the latter thrashes them and Sasi perceives Gautham's true identity and his intentions. Rajashekar arrives at the station and attempts to shoot Gautham. Gautham wonders that if Raghunandan was wrong at that time for shooting Rajashekar then why is the latter doing the same right now. Gautham reflects on Raghunandan's past actions and reveals that after Sunanda eloped with Rajashekar, Raghunandan, overwhelmed with guilt, accidentally killed Gautham's mother Pooja while trying to shoot himself. Despite this tragedy, Gautham and his father had forgiven Raghunandan.
Realizing their errors, Rajashekar and Sunanda reconcile with Gautham and agree to mend their relationship with Raghunandan. Bhaskar, seeking revenge, kidnaps Sasi, but Gautham and Paddu rescue her. Bhaskar discovers that the Ugandan government has seized his wealth, leaving him with only ₹2 lakh. Sunanda travels to Milan with her family, publicly supporting Raghunandan during a board meeting and endorsing Gautham as the new CEO of the company.
The film concludes with Bhaskar resuming his position as Sunanda's assistant, and Raghunandan expressing his affection for Gautham, solidifying the family's reconciliation and unity as the entire family eat together happily..
Cast
Production
Development Trivikram Srinivas planned to direct Pawan Kalyan in a film produced by D. V. V. Danayya and narrated the script in late January 2011. However, Srinivas later began Julayi (2012) while Kalyan was working on Gabbar Singh (2012) and Cameraman Gangatho Rambabu (2012). The technical crew of Kalyan's and Srinivas's previous collaboration, Jalsa (2008), were selected to work on the film. B. V. S. N. Prasad was expected to produce while Kalyan was expected to allot dates in his schedule from October 2012. Srinivas gave finishing touches to the script in late September 2012 and Reliance Entertainment was confirmed to co-produce. Devi Sri Prasad was selected as the music director and the music sittings were held at Barcelona during the location scout in December 2012.
was launched on 23 November 2012 at Venkateswara temple in Film Nagar. He hinted that the script will depict the Telugu culture and traditions with a strong message. Prasad Murella handled the cinematography and few sequences were shot using a Milo robotic camera which B. V. S. N. Prasad brought in from Mumbai as it was unavailable in Hyderabad. In mid July 2013, the title was confirmed to be .
Casting Kalyan opted for a complete makeover and sported a look resembling the one he sported in his previous films Kushi (2001) and Jalsa. After Srinivas narrated the script to Kalyan, he asked him who would play the role of his aunt and Srinivas replied it would be Nadhiya. Kalyan gave his approval for Srinivas's selection and Nadhiya was selected before she signed her comeback film in Telugu, Mirchi (2013). Srinivas narrated the script in a conversation with her over the telephone. After she accepted, he said that he would ask her dates after their schedules were planned. She later revealed that she was scared of being typecast but did the role only on Srinivas' insistence and added that the character's emotions were set quite well.
Srinivas decided to cast Ileana D'Cruz as the female lead who worked with him on Jalsa and Julayi. Samantha was confirmed as the female lead in late October 2012 which marked her first collaboration with Kalyan. The second female lead was yet to be selected. By the end of December 2012, most of the films which were in the pre-production phase were confirming their female leads. Because of this the production unit decided to begin the shoot without confirming the other heroine.
Pranitha Subhash was selected as the second female lead in early January 2013 and was confirmed to play Samantha's sister. Pranitha called it a lifetime opportunity and said that she would be seen in a "very sweet, girl-next-door character." Boman Irani made his debut in Telugu with ; he played Raghunandan, the grandfather of Kalyan's character. Kota Srinivasa Rao played the role of Sidhappa Naidu for which he sported a realistic and rugged look. Navika Kotia was selected for the role of the younger sister of Samantha and Pranitha in April 2013.
Srinivas did not cast his regular associate Sunil in the film. Since Sunil's success of Maryada Ramanna (2010) and Poola Rangadu (2012) as a lead actor, Srinivas felt that it would not be fair to make him play a comedian. Rao Ramesh, Mukesh Rishi, Brahmanandam, Ali, M. S. Narayana and Posani Krishna Murali were cast in supporting roles.
Mumtaj and Hamsa Nandini were confirmed to make special appearances in the song "It's Time To Party" marking the former's comeback in Telugu cinema after 12 years after anchor Anasuya refused the offer.
Filming
B. V. S. N. Prasad stated during the film's launch that principal photography would begin in mid-December 2012. Kalyan searched for new locations in Spain as the story demanded a foreign location and around 30 to 45 days of shooting schedule was planned there. It was the first time Kalyan went for a location hunt and returned in the last week of December 2012. Due to unknown reasons, the film's shoot was postponed to 8 January 2013 in late December 2012.
Shooting finally commenced from 24 January 2013 at a private hotel in Hyderabad. The team planned a new schedule from 4 February 2013 in Pollachi where scenes on Kalyan, Samantha and other support cast were planned to be shot. The schedule was postponed to 15 February 2013 and Srinivas continued the shoot in Hyderabad. After shooting for a few days in Hyderabad at a private mall, the planned schedule at Pollachi began from 12 February 2013.
An action sequence featuring Kalyan and other cast members was shot in late February 2013. The next schedule commenced from 1 March 2013 at a specially erected set at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad where scenes featuring Kalyan and the other cast members were shot. A few crucial scenes featuring the lead actors were shot there in early April 2013. Art director Ravindar supervised for the special set, which was worth 3 crore. By mid-April 2013, a major portion of the film was shot there. Kalyan and the film's unit planned to leave for Spain to shoot important sequences.
Scenes featuring the lead cast were shot in the end of April 2013 in a railway station set erected at Ramoji Film City. A new schedule began at Ramoji Film City from 2 May 2013.
Filming then moved to Europe on 5 June 2013 for a long schedule in which three songs, a few speaking portions and an action sequence were planned to be shot. Kalyan's introduction scene was shot in Switzerland which cost around 2 crore. The introduction scene, which was also an action sequence, was shot on an island located in Spain using helicopters under the supervision of Peter Hein. Post-production activities were done simultaneously and dubbing for the film's first half was completed. The team returned from Milan on 2 July 2013.
The song "Its Time to Party", which primarily features Kalyan, Samantha, Pranitha, Mumtaj and Hamsa Nandini was choreographed by Ganesh and was shot in a pub set erected by Anand Sai at Annapurna 7 Acres Studios. Principal photography wrapped on 14 July 2013.
Themes and influences