Agnyaathavaasi

Agnyaathavaasi
File:Agnyaathavaasi poster.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Trivikram Srinivas
Produced by	S. Radha Krishna
Written by	Trivikram Srinivas
Starring	Pawan Kalyan Keerthy Suresh Anu Emmanuel Aadhi Pinisetty
Music by	Anirudh Ravichander
Cinematography	V. Manikandan
Edited by	Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Production company	Haarika & Hassine Creations
Release date	10 January 2018 (2018-01-10)
Running time	158 minutes
Country	India
Language	Telugu
Budget	₹70 crore
Box office	est. ₹95 crore

Agnyaathavaasi (transl. Man in exile) is a 2018 Indian Telugu-language action drama film written and directed by Trivikram Srinivas. The film stars Pawan Kalyan, Keerthy Suresh, Anu Emmanuel, and Aadhi Pinisetty. It was an unofficial adaption of Largo Winch.The film began its principal photography in April 2017. Released on 10 January 2018 during the Sankranthi festival weekend, the film received negative reviews from critics.

Plot

Govinda "Vindha" Bhargav, a powerful business magnate, receives the news of his son Mohan Bhargav's death in a car accident while he is in Italy. Later, armed gunmen enter his hotel room, one of whom holds up a phone, and on the other end are Vindha's friends Sharma and Varma, who tell him this was their plan all along, and now with his son dead as well (implying that they planned it), his "empire" has no heir. Vindha secretly records this conversation before being gunned to death by the gunmen.

The news of Vindha's death, along with his belongings, reaches his wife, Indrani Bhargav, who hears the audio file of Vindha's alleged killers. She calls her brother Appaji to call for an unknown person. Appaji informs the unknown person, who is none other than Abhishikth Bhargav, Vindha's "secret" son. After performing his father's last rites in Varanasi, Abhi makes his way to Hyderabad, where his father's possible killers live. He scores a job in his office under the pseudonym Balasubramanyam, and makes friendships with Sukumari, Varma's daughter, and Suryakantham, Sharma's secretary who has a daughterly bond with Sharma. However, Abhi comes to know that the phone conversation must have been a fake one, since none of them have international calls registered on their phones, and now some unknown people are trying to kill him. Later that night, armed men break into his house and are killed by Abhi one after the other. The last one alive is killed in front of Indrani, only after revealing to them the true killer, Seetharam, Deenabandhu's (Vindha's ex-business partner who had died a few years ago) sons.

The police investigation behind Vindha's death led by ACP Sampath comes to a conclusion when he contemplates about Vindha's past. Govindha Bharav, a middle-class man, had set up a successful pharmaceutical company that wished to set up a factory in a remote village. However, that plan failed as Vindha refuses to bribe a local politician, who responds by provoking the villagers to attack Vindha's factory with the help of Vindha's friend Aditya Bandaru. While escaping in a charter plane with his friends except for Aditya, they discover that the briefcase containing the vile for the medicine has been shot, destroying it. However, Vindha hides the second one in a secret compartment in the same briefcase. After viewing their celebrations, he begins doubting them as well. When he goes to Bali on a holiday with his pregnant wife, there is an attempt on her life. She is presumed dead, although she is alive. Vindha senses danger to her life, thus sending her away to her brother Appaji's house. She dies shortly after giving birth to Abhi, who is raised as a person agnostic to the concept of wealth acquisition, which Vindha deems as the primary quality for someone to lead his empire after him. With Abhi's consent, he marries Indrani, who is now a mother to Mohan Bhargav.

Abhi takes over the company, proclaiming he is Vindha's son. He tortures Sharma, Varma, and Koteswara Rao, who had a habit of harassing women in the workplace. When this news reaches Seetharam, he comes back to India and asks for evidence to prove that Abhi is Vindha's son. Abhi goes to Bulgaria with Sukumari and Suryakantham to recover Vindha's will, which stated that his wealth must go to Abhi. However, that will is stolen by Seetharam with Appaji's help, and by threatening Sukumari and Suryakantham that he would kill Varma and Sharma. Seetharam destroys the will by burning, thus eradicating the evidence that Abhi is Vindha's son. However, when electing the future CEO for the company, Abhi fights Seetharam's goons on the roof of the building, after revealing that the will given to Seetharam was a fake one and that Appaji was part of Abhi's plan. After killing most of Seetharam's goons, one of the board members of the company reveals to Abhi that he is Aditya's brother, and that he was part of Vindha's murder since he wanted to avenge his brother's death. After confronting Abhi, the board member is attacked by Seetharam's henchman Parag, and they both slip off the rooftop. While Parag falls, Aditya's brother hangs by the logo of the company. After fighting Seetharam and telling him why he does not deserve the position of CEO, Abhi tells Aditya's brother that this company was a tribute to his friend, and the name of the company "AB group" was not named after him, but after Aditya Bandaru. After that, the board member falls to his death. Abhi goes back into the company, takes the position of CEO, and promises Indrani that he will fulfill his father's duties. At last, after he takes his duty as a CEO, he speaks with Seetharam and tells that he has to stay in an isolated island where there is no accessibility, and hence, the film ends in a happy note.

Cast

• Pawan Kalyan as Abhishikth Bhargav, Krishnaveni's son who disguises himself as Balasubramanyam
• Keerthy Suresh as Sukumari, Varma's daughter & Abhi's Love interest
• Anu Emmanuel as Suryakantham, Sharma's secretary
• Aadhi Pinisetty as Seetharam, Deenabandhu's son
• Boman Irani as Govind Bhargav, Abhi's father
• Khushbu Sundar as Indrani Bhargav, Abhi's stepmother
• Rao Ramesh as Varma, Vindha's friend
• Murali Sharma as Sharma, Vindha's friend
• Sampath Raj as ACP Sampath, the Police officer investigating the murder of Vindha
• Indraja as Krishnaveni Bhargav, Abhi's mother
• Pavitra Lokesh as Kumari, Sukumari's mother
• Tanikella Bharani as Appaji, Abhi's uncle
• Parag Tyagi as Parag, Security In-Charge Officer
• Ajay as Aditya Bandaru, Vindha's friend
• Sameer as Deenabandhu, Vindha's ex-business partner
• Jayaprakash as Daya Bandaru, Aditya's brother
• Vennela Kishore as Bala Subramanyam, A dim-witted man whose identity is used by Abhi to enter his company
• Chaitanya Krishna as Rohit, Suryakantham's ex-boyfriend
• Raja as Sukumari's friend kidnapped by AB & team
• Raghu Babu as Koteswara Rao, A corrupt and flirtatious manager in Vindha's company
• Aadukalam Naren as MLA
• Srinivasa Reddy as Abhi's assistant
• Narra Srinu as Abhi's assistant
• Abhishek Maharshi as Abhi's assistant
• Avantika Vandanapu as Sampath's daughter
• Adithya as Seetharam's henchman
• Srikanth Iyyengar as Sampath's assistant
• Appaji Ambarisha Darbha as Writer
• Fish Venkat
• Lahari Shari as Sushmita
• Daggubati Venkatesh as Guru (Cameo appearance)

Production

Principal photography began on 3 April 2017 with a small coffee shop scene, shot at Ciclo Cafe, then moved to a special set erected in Ramoji Film City for an action sequence. Some parts of the film were shot in Annapurna Studios and a major sequence and a song were shot in Bangkok. The unit moved to Bulgaria on 26 October 2017 for 15 days to shoot two songs. After the foreign schedule, shooting continued in Hyderabad and was completed by the end of November 2017, including a brief period of shooting at Varanasi.

After the film, Kalyan actively began his political campaign for the 2019 Andhra Pradesh election.

Music

The soundtrack was composed by Anirudh Ravichander, making his Tollywood debut. The first song, "Baitikochi Chusthe", was unveiled on 6 November 2017, the birthday of director Trivikram Srinivas.

Agnyaathavaasi
Soundtrack album by Anirudh Ravichander
Released	6 January 2018
Length	23:35
Language	Telugu
Label	Aditya Music
Producer	Anirudh Ravichander
Anirudh Ravichander chronology
Velaikkaran (2017) Agnyaathavaasi (2018) Thaanaa Serndha Koottam (2018)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Baitikochi Chuste"	Sri Mani	Anirudh Ravichander	3:26
2.	"Gaali Vaaluga"	Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry	Anirudh Ravichander	4:18
3.	"Dhaga Dhagamaney"	Sri Mani	Anirudh Ravichander	4:16
4.	"Swagatham Krishna"	Oothukkadu Sri Venkata Subbaiyer Kriti	Padmalatha, Niranjana Ramanan	3:23
5.	"AB Yevaro Nee Baby"	Sri Mani	Nakash Aziz, Arjun Chandy	4:19
6.	"Kodakaa Koteswar Rao"	Bhaskarabhatla	Pawan Kalyan	3:53
Total length:				23:35

Release

The film was released on 10 January 2018. The film was then later released on Sun NXT for digital streaming, and the satellite rights are owned by Gemini TV.

Reception

Critical reception

Times of India gave the film 2.5/5 stars, noting, "Despite all the pomp and show, ... 'Agnyaathavaasi' has been an amazing ride had it either been taken seriously or been made with the same old Trivikram-Pawan Kalyan touch. However, the film lacks soul ... Pawan Kalyan aces through his role as usual, even if his body language and expressions ooze disinterest. The Indian Express rated the film 2/5 and stated, "Agnyaathavaasi has became a nightmare for power star fans, It is strictly for fans of Power Star as Trivikram has spent the entire runtime gushing over Pawan Kalyan." The Hindu said "The film is beautifully shot (cinematography by Manikandan) and Anirudh Ravichander comes up with refreshing music that gives a classy sheen to this urban masala film. But these aren’t enough to salvage the film."

Plagiarism allegations

French director Jérôme Salle alleged that the film was plagiarised from his 2008 film Largo Winch. Following this, T-Series, which owns the remake rights of Largo Winch, sent a legal notice to the makers of the film, asking for the censored copy of the film. It was later reported that T-Series was demanding ₹15 crore (equivalent to ₹16 crore or US$2.3 million in 2019) from the makers of Agnyaathavaasi for allegedly violating copyright. The agreement between Agnyaathavaasi makers and T-Series management was amicably closed after the makers agreed to compensate them after taking into consideration that though the director had not taken the entire plotline of Largo Winch, he had written a few key scenes of Agnyaathavaasi based on scenes from the French film.

Box office

The film grossed ₹ 95 crores against a budget of ₹ 70 crores.

External links

• Agnyaathavaasi on IMDb