ISmart Shankar

iSmart Shankar is a 2019 Indian Telugu-language science fiction action film written and directed by Puri Jagannadh, who co-produced the film with Charmme Kaur. It stars Ram Pothineni in the title role, alongside Satyadev Kancharana, Nabha Natesh, Nidhhi Agerwal, Ashish Vidyarthi and Raj Deepak Shetty in supporting roles. The music was composed by Mani Sharma, while the cinematography and editing were handled by Raj Thota and Junaid Siddiqui respectively. In the film, an assassin helps the cops to investigate a high-profile case when a slain cop's memories are transferred into his brain.

iSmart Shankar was released theatrically on 18 July 2019 and became a commercial success. A sequel titled Double iSmart has been announced and will be released on 15 Aug 2024.

Plot
iSmart Shankar is a street-smart assassin who works under another assassin named Kaka. One day, Shankar encounters a rough woman named Chandini, when he was extorting money from an apartment complex builder. Impressed, Shankar falls for Chandini and tries various ways to impress her. Despite being annoyed at first, Chandini realizes her mistake. Under Kaka's orders, Shankar kills CM Kasi Vishwanath and escapes to Goa with Chandini. However, the cops learn about their location and a shootout ensues where Chandini gets killed and Shankar getting arrested.

Meanwhile, Sara, a neuroscientist who is working on memory transfer has achieved successful results with rats. Sara's boyfriend/fianceè Arun is a CBI officer, who is investigating Kasi Vishwanath's murder, believes that a higher force had planned and killed him. Shankar gets released from prison and deduces that Kaka had a major role in Chandni's death and has been ordered to kill him as well. Kaka tries to escape, but Shankar shoots Kaka in Sara's car and flees while Sara calls Arun.

Arun catches a guy, but the guy is killed in a car accident and Arun's higher officials are after him to find the killer. When Arun is about to crack the case, he is shot and killed by the goons. CBI officer Chandrakanth is desperate to know about the killer, where they transfer Arun's memory to Shankar with Sara's help, knowing that Arun's memory will remove his past. Shankar wakes up and experiences memories that aren't his own. He gets enraged when Sara reveals the truth to him and realizes that he will forget Chandni in a few days.

Shankar experiences brief flashes where he becomes Arun, but reverts to being Shankar. Shankar finds Arun's house and discovers a bag that has evidences about the murderer, where he calls the Chandrakanth to meet him in Goa. When Arun is about to reveal the identity of the murderers, he reverts to Shankar and beats all the cops and takes Sara at knifepoint, where he escapes. After a few events, Shankar reverts to Arun and reveals to Chandrakanth that Kasi Vishwanath's son Devendra and brother-in-law Central Minister Ramamurthy are the masterminds behind the assassination.

With the help of Chandrakanth, Shankar devises a plan to arrest Devendra and Ramamurthy with the evidence in Benaras. Devendra gets exposed and escapes, where Arun follows him, but Devendra and his men continuously beat Arun in his head, which results in Arun getting reverted to Shankar. Sara tells Shankar that Devendra is responsible for Chandni's death. After an intense fight, Shankar kills Devendra, thus avenging Chandini's death. Sara and Arun/Shankar leave for Hong Kong on vacation, where Arun/Shankar proposes to Sara, who happily agrees. Arun reverts to Shankar as the movie ends and the credits roll.

Cast

 * Ram Pothineni as Ustaad "iSmart" Shankar / Arun (Memory Transfer)
 * Satyadev as Arun (Original Human Version)
 * Nabha Natesh as Chandni
 * Nidhhi Agerwal as Dr. Sarah
 * Sayaji Shinde as CBI Officer Chandrakanth
 * Ashish Vidyarthi as Ramamoorthy, Central Minister
 * Raj Deepak Shetty as Devendra Viswanath
 * Tulasi as Viswanath's wife
 * Getup Srinu as Shankar's friend
 * Aziz Naser
 * Puneet Issar as CM Kashi Viswanath
 * Madhusudhan Rao as Kaka
 * Gangavva as a woman in lorry
 * Vikas Sethi as Dharam Police officer, Ramamoorthy's Henchman
 * Lekha Prajapati in "Bonalu" song
 * Puri Jagannadh as himself in the song "iSmart Theme"

Production
Principal photography began in January 2019 in Hyderabad. The first schedule finished in February 2019. The second schedule took place in Goa and the filming resumed in March 2019. The action scenes of the film were shot in April 2019 and the third schedule took place in Varanasi. The filming was completed in mid May 2019.

Release
The film was released theatrically on 18 July 2019. The film was also dubbed and released in Hindi on YouTube on 16 February 2020 by Aditya Movies. The Hindi dubbed version crossed more than 300 million views.

Reception
iSmart Shankar received mixed reviews from critics with praise for the Ram's performance, music and action sequences, but criticized its script.

Critical response
123telugu gave 3.25/5 stars and wrote "iSmart Shankar is an unapologetic full on mass masala entertainer aimed at the masses." Hemanth Kumar of Firstpost gave 3/5 stars and wrote "Despite its crassness at times, iSmart Shankar strikes a chord largely due to its story, Puri Jagannadh’s conviction, and Mani Sharma’s compelling background score."

Neeshita Nyayapati of The Times of India gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "In this make-believe world, when rules change by-the-minute, it’s hard to give a damn." Sify gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "iSmart Shankar is aimed at frontbenchers. Despite the idea of transplantation of memories being new, the rest of the story and its treatment are over-the-top and too clichéd. This is a loud mass action-thriller."

Sequel
In September 2022, it has been reported that the sequel is currently being developed due to Jagannadh's film, Jana Gana Mana being shelved after the box office disappointment of Jagannadh's previous venture Liger. An official announcement of the sequel titled Double iSmart has been announced in May 2023.