Simhadri (2003 film)

Simhadri
File:Simhadri 2003 DVD Cover art.jpg DVD cover
Directed by	S. S. Rajamouli
Produced by	V. Vijay Kumar Varma V. Doraswamy Raju (presenter)
Screenplay by	S. S. Rajamouli Dialogue: Gangotri Viswanath M. Ratnam
Story by	K. V. Vijayendra Prasad
Starring	N. T. Rama Rao Jr. Bhumika Chawla Ankitha Mukesh Rishi
Music by	M. M. Keeravani
Cinematography	K. Ravindra Babu
Edited by	Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Production company	VMC Productions
Release date	9 July 2003 (2003-07-09)
Running time	169 minutes
Country	India
Language	Telugu
Budget	₹6–8.5 crore
Box office	est. ₹46 crore

Simhadri is a 2003 Indian Telugu-language action drama film directed by S. S. Rajamouli from a story written by K. V. Vijayendra Prasad. The film stars N. T. Rama Rao Jr., Bhumika Chawla, and Ankitha with Mukesh Rishi, Nassar, and Rahul Dev playing supporting roles. The film has music composed by M. M. Keeravani while the cinematography and editing are done by Ravindra Babu and Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao respectively. The film was a blockbuster.

Plot

An orphan and good-hearted lad Simhadri (N. T. Rama Rao Jr.) is 'adopted' and grows up under Ram Bhupal Varma's (Nassar) family care in Visakhapatnam. The bond they share is like father and son. Kasturi (Ankitha) is Varma's granddaughter, and she likes Simhadri a lot. Once a week, Simhadri visits a mentally challenged girl called Indu (Bhumika Chawla). He entertains her and provides money to her caretakers (Rallapalli and Ragini).

When Varma and his wife (Sangeeta) discover Kasturi's wish to marry Simhadri, Varma decides to get them married. He makes a formal announcement to officially adopt Simhadri. At this time, it is revealed that Simhadri is very close to Indu. The alliance breaks off when Simhadri refuses to leave Indu (who is suspected to be his mistress).

Meanwhile, two separate groups are in search of Simhadri. They find him at the banks of Godavari River along with Indu. In the ensuing confrontation between one group of gangsters and Simhadri, Varma and his family are surprised to see that Simhadri, who used to be calm and composed, is ruthlessly killing many rowdies without mercy. Meanwhile, Indu gets injured. Simhadri is helped by the second group, who call him 'Singamalai Anna' (Brother Singamalai). When Indu comes back to her senses, she remembers her past and the first thing she does is stab Simhadri with an iron pole. Simhadri is hospitalized in critical condition. Then we see many buses carrying hoards of people demanding to see 'Singamalai Anna'. The leader of the second group, who was searching for Simhadri, explains the 'Singamalai Anna' story in a flashback.

In the flashback, it is revealed that Varma's oldest daughter Saraswati (Seetha) elopes with her lover, a Keralite named Aravind (Bhanu Chander). After some harsh words and saddened over Varma's rejection over her choice to marry her love, they both settle in Kerala. Learning of the sadness surrounding Varma and his wife, Simhadri takes up the job of uniting the family and visits Thiruvananthapuram. He joins the medical and spiritual therapy spa operated by Saraswati and her family under the disguise of a patient.

He finds that Indu is Varma's first granddaughter. He convinces the separated family to reunite and ask for forgiveness. During this time, Saraswati is killed by a local goon Bala Nair (Rahul Dev). A don named Bhai Saab (Mukesh Rishi) controls the mafia of Kerala. Bala and Bhai belong to the same mafia. Simhadri takes the law into his hands and eradicates Bala and his small gang in Kerala. The local Kerala people start calling him 'Singamalai'. In the ensuing scenes, Simhadri finds himself developing into "Singamalai," eradicating Bhai Saab's network and illegal activities. Indu finds herself alone and constantly worrying about him. She proposes to her father that they should return to Andhra Pradesh because she cannot stand their home without her mother, and Simhadri ignores her now.

Indu and Aravind decide to return to Visakhapatnam. Simhadri receives a call that Indu's father is carrying a bomb in his briefcase. Aravind is seen rushing to catch a moving train, and Indu was about to lend him a hand. Unable to warn him, Simhadri has two choices: to let Indu's father die so people on the train can live, or let the bomb kill everyone on board, including Indu and her father.

Simhadri chooses the first option. As soon as Aravind catches the train bar handle, Simhadri shoots him in the back. Surprised at Simhadri's action, Indu jumps off the train to catch her falling father, and she gets hit her head against a pole, causing her amnesia and becoming mentally challenged. After the flashback ends, people are seen and heard chanting Singamalai Singamalai outside the hospital. Bhai and his men arrive at the hospital to finish off Simhadri. But Simhadri has gained consciousness, and with the help of his friends, police and family (now reunited), he takes down Bhai and his army.

Cast

• N. T. Rama Rao Jr. as Simhadri / Singamalai
• Bhumika Chawla as Indira "Indu"
• Ankitha as Kasturi
• Mukesh Rishi as Bhai Saab
• Nassar as Ram Bhupal Varma
• Rahul Dev as Bala Nair
• Brahmanandam as Talupulu
• Sharat Saxena as ACP Shaukat Ali, Simhadri's mentor
• Sangeeta as Varma's wife
• Bhanu Chander as Aravind
• Seetha as Saraswathi
• Rallapalli as Indu's caretaker
• Sekhar as Bala's aide
• Ragini as Indu's caretaker
• Venu Madhav as Iyer
• Ajay
• Kota Srinivasa Rao
• Chalapathi Rao
• Sivannarayana Naripeddi
• Srinivasa Reddy as Thief
• Hema
• Ravi Babu
• G. V. Sudhakar Naidu
• Master Mahendra
• Sameer as Doctor
• Rajan P. Dev as Kerala Chief Minister (guest appearance)
• Ramya Krishnan as Item number in the song "Chinnadamme Cheekulu"

Production

After the success of Student No.1 (2001), Rajamouli was initially supposed to direct a fantasy film with Kovelamudi Surya Prakash however the project was shelved due to high budget and lead actor's debut film Neetho (2002) became a failure. Rajamouli narrated the subject of Simhadri to VMC Combines who agreed to produce the film. The film was supposed to be made with the pair of B. Gopal and Balakrishna, which was dropped.

Writer K. V. Vijayendra Prasad stated that he got the idea to write the story of this film while watching Vasantha kokila (1982).

Soundtrack

Simhadri
Soundtrack album by M. M. Keeravani
Released	9 July 2003
Recorded	2003
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	33:16
Label	Aditya Music
Producer	M. M. Keeravani
M. M. Keeravani chronology
Tappu Chesi Pappu Kudu (2002) Simhadri (2003) Okariki Okaru (2003)

Soundtrack was composed by M. M. Keeravani. He revealed that Rajamouli mostly selected tunes which are already used and left unused. The song "Ammaina Nannaina" was originally used for the film Kishkinda Kanda (1994) and the song "Chinnadamme" for the film Samarpana (1992).

Track-List

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Singamalai" (Lyrics are penned in Malayalam by Vaali)	Chandrabose	Kalyani Malik	4:34
2.	"Cheema Cheema"	Veturi Sundararama Murthy	S. P. B. Charan, Ganga, Brahmanandam	4:31
3.	"Ammaina Naannaina"	Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry	Kalyani Malik	5:10
4.	"Chiraaku Anuko"	Chandrabose	S. P. B. Charan, K. S. Chithra	4:21
5.	"Nannedo Seyamaku"	Chandrabose	M. M. Keeravani, Sunitha Upadrashta	5:02
6.	"Chinnadamme Cheekulu"	Vennelakanti	Mano, Shreya Ghoshal	5:03
7.	"Nuvvu Whistlesthe"	Chandrabose	Tippu, K. S. Chithra	4:35
Total length:				33:16

Release and reception

Distribution

Simhardri distribution rights were sold for ₹12.5 crore (US$1.8 million). It was made with a budget of ₹8.5 crore (US$1.2 million) of production cost.

Critical reception

Jeevi of Idlebrain gave a positive review for the film, citing that the story is "pretty strong" and praised N. T. Rama Rao Jr.'s performance stating that the "character offered him the chance to use all his histrionic capability to impress the crowds and he utilized every frame of it to make a deep impact on the hearts of the viewers."

Box-office

Simhadri had a theatrical run of over 100 days and collected a distributor share of ₹24 crore.

Remakes and dubbed versions

After the success, the film was subsequently remade in Tamil as Gajendra (2004) with Vijayakanth by Suresh Krissna. The film was also remade in Kannada as Kanteerava (2012) with Duniya Vijay.The film was also remade in Bangladesh as Durdorsho (2005) with Shakib Khan.

Simhadri was dubbed in Malayalam with the same name, in Hindi as Yamraaj Ek Faulad, and in Bhojpuri as Paap Ke Ant,

External links

• Simhadri on IMDb