Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava

Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava is a 2018 Indian Telugu-language action drama film written and directed by Trivikram Srinivas. The film stars N. T. Rama Rao Jr., Pooja Hegde, and Jagapathi Babu. It revolves around Veera Raghava, a young man who engages in a violent fight with henchmen from a rival village. He escapes to Hyderabad and decides to stay away from violence in order to bring peace between the two villages whose people have been constantly affected by the feud for 30 years. S. Thaman composed the soundtrack, in his official 100th musical composition.

Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava was released theatrically on 11 October 2018 to positive reviews praising performances (especially N. T. Rama Rao Jr, Pooja Hegde and Jagapathi Babu), emotional weight of the story, action choreography, Trivikram's writing and direction, Thaman's soundtrack and background score. The film was a commercial success grossing inr 1060000000 worldwide, becoming the 3rd highest-grossing Telugu film of 2018. Jagapathi Babu won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for his performance.

Plot
There prevails a 30-year-long feud in Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh between two factions of villages: Kommaddi headed by Narappa Reddy and Nallagudi headed by Basi Reddy. The dispute has been devastating the families of people involved in the brawls between two families, which is a matter of great concern. Narappa Reddy prepares to safely receive his son Veera Raghava Reddy, who was in London for the past 12 years, but while they are on their way home from the railway station, Basi Reddy and his men orchestrate an attack on them and successfully manage to assassinate Narappa Reddy and his brother-in-law. Surviving the attack, Raghava unleashes his wrath, kills all of Basi Reddy's henchmen, and stabs Basi Reddy in the neck. Everyone presumes Basi Reddy to be dead.

Raghava carries his father and uncle's corpses home, shattering his family. Raghava's grandmother Jeji and his henchman's wife Nagamani help Raghava realize that violence might not be the ultimate solution, so Raghava heads to Hyderabad, hoping that his absence might reduce the clashes between the factions.

Raghava befriends a mechanic Neelambari and rescues Adv. Saradhi's eldest daughter Aravinda from a bunch of goons who hold a grudge against her father for duping them with false assurances about getting them acquitted of murder charges filed against them. When Neelambari gets apprehended by the police for unknowingly carrying a gun that actually belongs to Raghava, the latter approaches Saradhi, and Aravinda narrates the events pertaining to her encounter with Raghava to her father. As the goons are still after his family, Saradhi deploys Raghava to protect his daughter and vows to have Neelambari released from prison, which he succeeds in doing. Raghava befriends Aravinda's younger sister Sunanda, but Aravinda is revealed to be arrogant and keeps her distance from him. However, she continues to influence his philosophies regarding violence. Disclosed to have survived the stabbing, Basi Reddy persuades his son Bala Reddy to hunt Raghava and murder him.

Meanwhile, Raghava narrates a story inspired by his life to Aravinda's younger brother Prateek for his school's periodical publication that gets published; Basi Reddy happens to read the periodical, and, discerning that Prateek might be related to Raghava, asks his henchmen to abduct Prateek to reach Raghava. The henchmen try to kidnap Prateek in his school, but Raghava prevents them from doing so and thrashes them badly, making sure that no one is killed. He finds out that Basi Reddy survived. Later, Bala Reddy and his men abduct Aravinda and Prateek, but Raghava talks to Basi Reddy over the phone, threatening to kill his son followed by him and his men, causing them to release Aravinda and Prateek. Troubled by the incident, Saradhi asks Raghava to leave, which he does, but not before narrating his past to Aravinda and her family. An intrigued Aravinda decides to film a documentary about the factions in Kommaddi and Nallagudi as a part of her project and heads there, accompanied by Neelambari. She meets Nagamani and talks to Raghava over the phone, confessing her feelings for him.

Raghava attends a conference with Bala Reddy and ministers Krishna Reddy and Sudarshan Reddy and attempts to convince Bala Reddy to get into a peace treaty. Bala Reddy refuses to comply and unleashes his goons on Raghava, but he fights them back and ultimately convinces Bala Reddy. After their car breaks down, Aravinda and Neelambari are sheltered by Basi Reddy's wife but are unaware of her identity. When Basi Reddy gets to know of the peace treaty, he furiously stabs Bala Reddy, distressing his wife, while one of his men identifies Aravinda as Raghava's love interest, causing Basi Reddy to take her and Neelambari hostage. Basi Reddy commands Raghava to meet him in a field, and he complies.

Basi Reddy slits Aravinda's arm, stabs Neelambari, and persuades Raghava to fight him, but Raghava hesitates, unwilling to get into another fight. Basi Reddy divulges to Raghava that he was the one who killed Bala Reddy but created a rumor that Raghava murdered him, causing a clash once again between the two factions. Basi Reddy's henchmen Marappa and Subba Reddy have a change of heart upon listening to Raghava and realize that Basi Reddy will even kill them if there is a necessity for him to continue the feud between the factions. They take Neelambari and Aravinda to the hospital, while Raghava is disappointed with Bala Reddy's murder and concludes that Basi Reddy's death will end the violence haunting the villages. He kills Basi Reddy and burns him along with the field, making sure that no one learns about his death. He confesses to Basi Reddy's wife about his murder, and she agrees to end the violence, doing so by revealing to the factions that Basi Reddy murdered his own son and fled the village. She files a police complaint stating the same while Raghava nominates her as the MLA, which she becomes unanimously.

Cast

 * N. T. Rama Rao Jr. as Veera Raghava Reddy
 * Pooja Hegde as Aravindha, Veera Raghava's love interest
 * Eesha Rebba as Sunandha, Aravindha's younger sister
 * Jagapathi Babu as Basi Reddy, Veera Raghava's enemy
 * Navdeep As Raghava’s Friend
 * Sunil as Neelambari, Veera Raghava's Best friend
 * Rao Ramesh as Krishna Reddy, Political incharge of Nallagudi
 * Subhalekha Sudhakar as Sudarshan Reddy, Political incharge of Kommaddi
 * Naga Babu as Narappa Reddy, Raghava's father
 * Naveen Chandra as Bala Reddy, Basi Reddy's son
 * Devayani as Suguna, Raghava's mother
 * Supriya Pathak as Jeji, Raghava's grandmother
 * Naresh as Saradhi, Aravindha's father
 * Lakshmi Gopalaswamy as Aravindha's mother
 * Easwari Rao as Basi Reddy's wife
 * Sithara as Varalakshmi, Raghava's aunt
 * Brahmaji as Marappa Reddy, Basi Reddy's henchman
 * Shatru as Subba Reddy “Ontichethi Subbadu”, Basi Reddy's henchman
 * Vinay Varma as Timma Reddy, Narapa Reddy's father and Raghava's grandfather
 * Srinivasa Reddy as Balu, Saradhi's assistant
 * Ravi Prakash as Oosanna Reddy, Narapa Reddy's henchman
 * Sharath Lohitashwa as Lakshma Reddy, Basi Reddy's father
 * Aadarsh Balakrishna as Basi Reddy's henchman
 * Hari Teja as Nagamani, Raghava's henchman's wife
 * Master Charan Ram as Prateek, Aravindha's younger brother
 * Pammi Sai as Sudarshan
 * Narra Srinivas as Rami Reddy
 * Rangadham as Oobaa Reddy
 * Ananth as Mechanic

Production
The discussion for this film began with NTR, when Rao was shooting Nannaku Prematho in 2015 and finally materialised in 2018. Pooja Hegde was selected to collaborate with Rao for the first time. Anirudh Ravichander, who was initially signed on composing the music was replaced by S. Thaman after the failure of Agnyaathavaasi.

The shooting for the film began on 6 April 2018 with an action sequence in Ramoji Film City of Hyderabad. Filming also took place in Pollachi in June. The shoot was completed in September 2018. Pooja Hegde dubbed her voice in Telugu for the first time in this film.

Themes
Aravinda Sametha is based on the factionalism present in the region of Rayalaseema, a theme which was dominant in Telugu cinema during late 1990s and early 2000s.

"'In most of the films based on Rayalaseema factionalism, only the act of violence was glorified; however, none of those films focused on the aftermath of a war. Both Jr NTR and I became interested in starting our story with a bloody act of war to give the film a context and then explore how the protagonist shuns that path to bring peace. Later, when I came up with the idea of focusing on the lives of women and how families are torn apart due to such violence, it gave us a lot more depth to explore.'"

Music
The soundtrack album of Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava features four songs composed by S. Thaman, with one song being added in the extended soundtrack of the film. The audio rights were of the film were purchased by Zee Music Company. Lyrics for the songs were written by Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry, Ramajogayya Sastry, and Penchal Das. Initially, the makers planned to release the full audio album directly into the market, without hosting any audio launch event for the film.

The first single track titled "Anaganaganaga" was released on 15 September 2018. On 18 September 2018, the makers unveiled the second single track titled "Peniviti" sung by Kaala Bhairava, which was termed as an intense, raw, rustic number. The lyrical video of Yeda Poyinadu was released on 25 September 2018.

The tracklist was unveiled on 19 September 2018, and the complete soundtrack album was unveiled the following day, on 20 September 2018.

Marketing and release
On 19 May 2018, the title of the film was revealed as Aravinda Sametha. Jr. NTR was featured in a chiseled avatar who worked out extensively with international trainer Lloyd Stevens for his new look for the film. Also S. Thaman's background music in the motion poster was appreciated by fans. The promotions of the film were commence on 10 September 2018.

A pre-release event was held on 2 October 2018, at H.I.C.C. Novotel hotel in Hyderabad, where the makers also launched the theatrical trailer of the film. The trailer received predominantly positive response from all corners.

Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava was released theatrically on 11 October 2018. The film was dubbed and released in Tamil as Idhu Ennoda Jilla. The film's Japanese Blu-ray was officially released on 3 April 2024.

Critical reception
The Times of India gave 3.5 out of 5 stars stating, "An emotional drama camouflaged in a commercial exterior, here's a film that's courageous to stand apart from slapstick madness. Trivikram's treatment of this plot scores over his indulgence as Jr NTR delivers another fine performance".

India Today gave 3 out of 5 stars stating, "Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava is a commercial actioner backed by Trivikram's engaging script and Jr NTR's excellent performance. After the debacle of Pawan Kalyan-starrer Agnyaathavaasi, director Trivikram Srinivas has bounced back with Jr NTR's Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava".

News18 gave 3 out of 5 stars stating "Jr NTR elevates tried-tested story of factionalism". Hindustan Times gave 3 out of 5 stars stating "Jr NTR is the torchbearer of peace in a film on factionalism".