Athadu

Athadu is a 2005 Indian Telugu-language action thriller film written and directed by Trivikram Srinivas. The film features Mahesh Babu, Trisha, Sonu Sood, Prakash Raj, Nassar, Sunil, Sayaji Shinde, Kota Srinivasa Rao and Brahmanandam. It is produced by D. Kishore and M. Ram Mohan under the Jayabheri Arts banner. The soundtrack was composed by Mani Sharma. K. V. Guhan and Sreekar Prasad handled the cinematography and editing, respectively.

The film opened to positive reception and went on to become one of the highest grossing Telugu films and marked Mahesh Babu's career resurgence after a few unsuccessful films.

The film received several accolades including 3 Nandi Awards and a Filmfare Awards South in Best Director category. It was later remade in Hindi as Ek: The Power of One (2009).

Plot
Nanda Gopal aka Nandu, an assassin, and his getaway partner Malli, are hired by Shiva Reddy and his close aid Baaji Reddy for a fake assassination attempt on himself during one of his political party meetings in hopes of garnering sympathy votes. On the day of the hit, Shiva Reddy gets shot dead by someone and Malli also dies in an accident. While fleeing, Nandu meets Pardhu, who is returning to his village Basarlapudi after running away twelve years ago. The cops spot Nandu and fire at him but accidentally kill Pardhu instead.

Nandu escapes and arrives at Basarlapudi to inform Pardhu's family about his death. Thinking that Nandu is Pardhu, the latter's family rejoices at his return; it ultimately leads to Nandu staying with them while posing as Parthu. Nandu grows closer to the family and solves many of their problems. He also falls in love with Poori, Pardhu's cousin, and reveals his real identity to Ramana, Pardhu's old friend. Meanwhile, Anjaneya Prasad, a CBI officer, is handed the case of Shiva Reddy's murder, based on the conversation with an imprisoned ex-assassin who coincidentally was one of the local don under whom Nandu had worked, figures out that Nandu might be the possible culprit. After certain investigations Prasad learns that Nandu has assumed the identity of Pardhu.

Nandu is then tricked by Prasad over a telephone call where he inadvertently reveals himself (responding to his name instead of Pardhu) and flees before Prasad's arrival, where Prasad reveals the truth to Pardhu's family. After Prasad and his team leave, Nandu returns, confesses his true identity, and voices out that he never meant to cheat the family. Pardhu's grandfather points out that Nandu came and helped their family rather than running from the scene of crime, and accepts him as his grandson; he then hands his son's shotgun to Nandu and encourages him to seek justice.

Nandu records the conversation between him and Baaji Reddy where he learns that Malli had killed Shiva Reddy, framed Nandu, and faked his death on behest of Baaji Reddy. Nandu fights off the corrupt cops and in the process Malli is killed due to the backfire of Nandu's Shotgun. When Prasad arrives at the scene, Nandu gives him the tape he recorded earlier that proves his innocence. Upon learning that his actions were futile and fearing Pratap Reddy's wrath if the latter is exposed to the truth, Baaji Reddy shoots himself thereby allowing Prasad to close the case.In the epilogue, Nandu immerses Pardhu's ashes where Prasad visits him and informs him about Baaji Reddy's death and closure of the case. He further decides to let go of Nandu, Nandu who now truly accepts the identity of Pardhu leaves for Basarlapudi to go back to his new family.

Cast

 * Mahesh Babu as Nanda Gopal "Nandu", a professional killer who takes up the identity of Pardhu
 * Manoj Nandam as Young Nanda Gopal "Nandu"
 * Sonu Sood as Malli, Nandu's partner
 * Prakash Raj as Anjaneya Prasad IPS, Designated to CBI Officer, takes up the case of Shiva Reddy assassination.
 * Sayaji Shinde as Shiva Reddy, opposition party leader and Pratap Reddy's father (Cameo Appearance)
 * Kota Srinivasa Rao as Baaji Reddy, Shiva Reddy's close aide
 * Rahul Dev as Sadhu, a local don
 * Nassar as Satya Narayana Murthy, Pardhu’s grandfather
 * Trisha as Poori, Pardhu’s cousin and Nandu's love interest (Voice dubbed by Savitha Reddy)
 * Sunil as Ramana, Pardhu's friend
 * Rajiv Kanakala as Parthasaradhi "Pardhu" (Cameo Appearance)
 * Ajay as Pratap Reddy, Shiva Reddy's son
 * Giri Babu as Poori's father
 * Dharmavarapu Subramanyam as Poori's uncle
 * Brahmanandam as Krishna Murthy, Poori's uncle
 * Sudha as Poori's mother
 * Shruthi as Poori's 1st Aunt
 * Hema as Krishna Murthy's wife/Poori's 2nd aunt
 * Charan Raj as Police Officer
 * Tanikella Bharani as Naidu
 * Brahmaji as Nagasamudram Bujji, Naidu's brother-in-law
 * Posani Krishna Murali as Farooq, Shiva Reddy's aide
 * Ravi Prakash as CI Ravi, Anjaneya Prasad's assistant
 * Harsha Vardhan as a car agency owner (Cameo Appearance)
 * Venkata Giridhar Vajja as Giri, Pardhu's friend
 * Harika as Lalitha, Poori's sister
 * Prabhu as SI Prabhu
 * M. S. Narayana as Tea Shop's customer
 * Ananth as Doctor
 * Jaya Prakash Reddy as Lalitha's future father in law
 * Gundu Sudarshan as a corrupt MRO
 * Rallapalli as Datthu, Manager of Thanuku Manjeera Bank (Cameo Appearance).
 * Shanoor Sana
 * K. Vishwanath as CBI Officer K. S. Patanjali IPS (special appearance)

Development
In an interview with the media about his film Julai, Trivikram shared his views on this film, stating :

I narrated the story of Athadu to Mahesh Babu before the start of Nuvve Nuvve shoot. Before making of Athadu, I fixed myself that I should not compromise at any cost. I wanted to make the film the way I envisioned it. I wanted to satisfy the audience in me after shooting every scene. I doubled checked each and every scene as an audience. I was able to achieve only 80% of what I had imagined when I wrote the script. If you look at the first 15 minutes of the Athadu movie, you will realize the level of intensity and technical finesse.

Casting
Initially, Trivikram wanted to do this film with Pawan Kalyan and narrated the script. But he did not show much interest in signing the film and also slept during script narration. Mahesh Babu listened to the script of this film in 2002 but Trvikram and the film's producers had to wait for him till he completed the shooting schedules of S. J. Surya's science fiction film Naani and Gunasekhar's family drama Arjun as they were his existing commitments then. The shooting started a month later after the completion of Arjun. For his characterization and the dialogues uttered by the character he played, Mahesh had to adjust to Trivikram's style of dialogues, which took 10 days. Trisha Krishnan was selected for the leading female role. In an interview with the media on 29 June 2005 at the event of audio release stated that she would be seen in a role with shades of comedy though she added that her role was a limited one.

Murali Mohan later revealed that he wanted his friend and former Telugu actor Sobhan Babu to play the role of Satya Narayana Murthy, which would have marked his comeback film which was busy with a highly profitable real estate business then. For the same, Murali Mohan even issued and sent a blank cheque to Sobhan Babu's residence at Chennai as the remuneration. But Sobhan Babu refused to do that role and rejected the offer politely. Later, Nassar portrayed that role with S. P. Balasubrahmanyam dubbing for him in frail voice and his performance was appreciated by critics.

Filming
For the film's shoot, 160 motion cameras were imported from London to shoot time-freeze effect shots in action sequences which were clarified by Mahesh himself as still cameras only. Because of non compromising, not more than 10 shots were shot per day. 4 to 5 complicated action sequences were shot under the supervision of Peter Hein with much finesse, and the climax sequence was shot indoors, which took enormous time to complete thus making the principal photography end after a span of two years. A big set was constructed at Ramanaidu Studios in Nanakramguda at Hyderabad where most of the film's family scenes were shot. On 7 August 2004, a scene featuring Mahesh and Sunil was shot on the bridge of the lake at ICRISAT campus in Hyderabad.

Soundtrack
Mani Sharma composed the music for this film marking his first collaboration with Trivikram Srinivas and eighth collaboration with Mahesh Babu. The film's soundtrack was released by Mahesh Babu's father and prominent Telugu actor Krishna on 29 June 2005 at the house set of the film constructed at Nanakramguda through Maruthi Music label. This album consists of six melodies composed by Mani Sharma while Sirivennela Sitaramasastri and Viswa penned the lyrics. Apart from Krishna, the film's lead pair, producers, and Maruthi Music representatives attended the event.

The audio received moderately positive response from critics. IndiaGlitz wrote "Mani Sharma has tried to please all. If you are going to compare this one with his previous offerings for Mahesh, it does not do any one any good. On its own, the album has its moments." Upon the film's release, Mani Sharma's work was acclaimed by the critics and audience alike. IndiaGlitz wrote "Mani Sharma's music, especially the title song, is very good. His re-recording also fits the bill." idlebrain.com wrote "Music by Mani Sharma is good. The picturization of the first song which comes as background song for titles is wonderful. Neetho Cheppana song has got typical Mexican music. Background music and rerecording of the film is good." Sify.com wrote "The highlights of Athadu are the camerawork of K. V. Guhan and the melodious music and background score of Mani Sharma. The Neeto Chappana number picturised in the tea estates of Darjeeling is the pick of the album." Songs Sung By Eminent Singers Like S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. S. Chithra, Kavita Krishnamurti, Shreya Ghoshal, Mahalakshmi Iyer, KK etc

Domestic
The film released in 79 centers in Nizam region in Andhra Pradesh and was distributed by Maruthi Movies in which 3 centers screened the film for only 2 days. The film released in 24 centers across Visakhapatnam and was distributed by Sri Venkateswara Films. Sri Bharathi Pictures released the film in Krishna district in 18 centers. The film was released simultaneously in 3 screens in Chennai and it was also the first Telugu film to do so.

Overseas
The film was released with 6 prints in United States and was distributed by Vishnu Mudda and Soma Kancherla of Crown DVD distribution company. Because of the demand, another print was imported from India for screening. The film's first screening in USA happened at Cine Plaza 13 at North Bergen on the night of 11 August 2005. At Connecticut, a special screening was conducted on 19 August 2005. Initially one show was planned but because of the demand another show was screened. There at the theater, a turn out of 442 people was observed which included standing audience for 434 seats and about 60 could not be accommodated. Apart from USA, the film released in selected screens in United Kingdom, Singapore, Germany and Australia.

Home media
The DVD of the movie was released by Aditya Music under its Aditya Video Brand and won the best DVD award for its quality and is considered to be one of the highest sold DVDs in Tollywood history. After 7 years, Star Maa renewed the contract by paying an amount of ₹3.5 crores which was a record price for a 2005 Telugu film.

Remakes
The film was remade in Hindi as Ek: The Power of One (2009).

Critical reception
The film received praise for its plot, slick screenplay, creative action sequences, the amalgamation of humor, emotional weightage, suspense music, dialogues, cinematography and the central performance of Mahesh Babu.

Sify stated, "The highlight of the film is Mahesh Babu who looks cool, confident and competent as a hit man with his expressive body language and mannerisms. Athadu just about makes it as a slickly packaged entertainer but only for want of a better alternative." IndiaGlitz gave a review stating, "The story sure has splendid potential, but the director does not use them to the hilt simply because he attempts to do too many things almost simultaneously. Yet, all things considered, Athadu is a good entertainer. The problem is you can't praise it as the best yet cannot rubbish it as being useless. It is somewhere in between with more pluses than minuses." Cinegoer.net gave a review stating, "True the film gives an image of a Hollywood base for the drama. Even the taking, screenplay structure and execution of scenes, less talk and more action – all add to this image. But there are elements in this film that only a Telugu man can do it originally. That is the love track. And the way Trivikram put to view the scenic structure between Mahesh Babu and Trisha is impressive and refreshing."

Box office
The film netted ₹ 1 million from 3 screens in Chennai in its opening weekend debuting at second position pushing Shankar's Anniyan down to the third place. It collected approximately inr 220000000 in its total run. The film had a 50 days run in 205 centers and a 100-day run in 38 centres. The film had a 175-day run in Sudarshan 35 mm, Hyderabad, grossing ₹ 1.40 crores from the theater.,