Simhadri (2003 film)


Simhadri is a 2003 Indian Telugu-language action drama film directed by S. S. Rajamouli. The film was presented by V. Doraiswamy Raju and produced by V. Vijay Kumar Varma for the production company VMC Combines. The film stars Jr. NTR, Bhumika Chawla, and Ankitha in lead roles with Mukesh Rishi, Nassar, and Rahul Dev portraying supporting roles. The film's story was penned by Rajamouli's father V. Vijayendra Prasad and the dialogues were penned by M. Rathnam. The cinematography and editing for the film was handled by Ravindra Babu and Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao respectively. The film ended up as one of the blockbusters of that year.

Plot

An orphan and good-hearted lad Simhadri is 'adopted' and grows up under Ram Bhupal Varma's family care in Visakhapatnam. The bond they share is like father and son. Kasturi is Varma's granddaughter, and she likes Simhadri a lot. Once a week, Simhadri visits a mentally challenged girl called Indu. He entertains her and provides money to her caretakers.
When Varma and his wife 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.
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'. 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 'Singamalai Anna' story in a flashback.
In the flashback, it is revealed that Varma's oldest daughter Saraswati elopes with her lover, a Keralite named Aravind. 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. A don named Bhai Saab 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, he takes down Bhai and his army.

Cast

After the success of Student No. 1, 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 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.

Soundtrack

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 and the song "Chinnadamme" for the film Samarpana.

Remakes

After the success, the film was subsequently remade in Tamil as Gajendra with Vijayakanth by Suresh Krissna. The film was also remade in Kannada as Kanteerava with Duniya Vijay.The film was also remade in Bangladesh as Durdhosho with Shakib Khan.

Release and reception

Distribution

Simhardri distribution rights were sold for. It was made with a budget of of production cost.

Critical reception

Jeevi of Idlebrain gave a positive review for the film citing that the story is "pretty strong"and praised Jr. NTR'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 was a huge money spinner at box-office. The film created many records and went onto become the highest grossing in Rajamouli's career. Simhadri created records in 50, 100 and 175 days centers. Simhadri ran for 50 days in 167 centers, 100 days in 150 centers and 175 days in 52 direct centers.
The film collected a massive 26 Crore INR distributor share.

Legacy

The success of Simhadri established Jr. NTR as a Superstar and S. S. Rajamouli as a director in Telugu cinema.