Ism (film)

Ism is a 2016 Indian Telugu-language vigilante action film directed by Puri Jagannadh and produced by Nandamuri Kalyan Ram under N. T. R. Arts banner. The film stars Nandamuri Kalyan Ram, Aditi Arya and Jagapati Babu in the lead roles. Kalyan Ram's son Nandamuri Sourya Ram also makes his debut as a child artist, while Aditi Arya makes her debut in Telugu cinema. The music was composed by Anup Rubens, while the cinematography and editing were handled by Mukesh Gnanesh and Junaid Siddiqui.

The film was shot in August 2016 in Valencia, Spain.

Ism was released on 21 October 2016 to mixed reviews from critics and became an average grosser at the box office.

Plot
Javed Ibrahim, is a high-profile gangster who is in hiding in Tenerife islands with his gang and daughter, Alia, due to several of his scams being exposed in India. Kalyan Ram, happens to see her during a fight at an illegal fight club and falls head over heels for her. He even befriends Javed Bhai after offering him local Indian Karim Beedis. However, neither of them disclose their identities to each other. With the help of marriage broker Don Bosco, Javed Bhai gets Alia engaged to the Prince of Persia. Meanwhile, Javed Bhai helps Kalyan woo a girl he likes, unaware that the girl is his daughter. Alia slowly falls for Kalyan Ram, and informs Javed Bhai, who, realizing her lover is Kalyan, attempts to prove to her that he is cheating her. However, on seeing them, Kalyan runs away from there, eventually jumping into sea.

Meanwhile, in India, The Grand Leakage Company, a website/company, reveals Javed Bhai's whereabouts, and by seeing through the plan, Javed Bhai and Alia realise that the founder of the company, who has been unknown for years, is none other than Kalyan Ram. Alia, who is still madly in love with him, runs away from their yacht and escapes to India. Meanwhile, Kalyan, whose actual name is Sathya Marthand, is an undercover journalist whose father, Dasaradh Rao was handicapped by a criminal contractor when the former, a journalist, exposed the latter's use of faulty cement to construct buildings. Sathya, in retaliation, attempted to kill the contractor, but realised that the idea of a crime is what encourages corruption. He, hence, is on a journey to fight corruption. He gets information about Bank of Paradise, a Tenerife-based bank owned by Javed Bhai, which holds over a billiard rupees. The Grand Leakage Company has employed over thousands of anonymous journalism students, who together, take on corruption in India. Alia lands in India and tracks down Sathya's address, threatening to kill his parents and herself if he does not return home. Sathya returns, but tells her that he does not have any feelings for her. However, his parents, who have grown fond of Alia, refuse to let her go, and try forcing Sathya to wed her. After gathering details about Sathya, Javed Bhai informs the police about his activities, including his plan to wipe off the entire money present at Bank of Paradise.

They are almost successful, but the police catch Sathya, and his 4 friends, who were assigned the task of completing the operation, are brutally murdered by local goons. After giving a stellar session in court, the public realise Sathya's goodness, including his craving for justice to all families below the poverty line. He even lets out the code of the accounts in the bank, letting his co "hacktivists" hack into the Bank of Paradise, dividing the money equally into the bank account of every above-poverty line Indian citizen, requesting them to give at least 10% of their money to below poverty line farmers and families, else they will be the reason their country gets ruined. He is then taken to be escorted to the Central Jail. En Route, they are stopped and Sathya is kidnapped by Javed Bhai's men. Javed Bhai tells a reluctant Sathya to marry Alia, but is double-crossed by his henchmen who are ordered to kill Sathya by Minister Kotilinga, who was also involved in Javed's scams. Javed and Sathya take down all the goons. The film ends with Javed returning to Tenerife to continue his business, after having dropped Alia and Sathya in Goa, who then go undercover again.

Cast

 * Nandamuri Kalyan Ram as Sathya Marthand Kalyan Ram
 * Aditi Arya as Alia Khan
 * Jagapati Babu as Javed Ibrahim / Javed Bhai
 * Vennela Kishore as Sathya's friend
 * Posani Krishna Murali as Minister Kotilingalu
 * Ali as Don Bosco
 * Jaya Prakash Reddy as MLA JP
 * Tanikella Bharani as Dasaradharamaiah
 * Easwari Rao as Satyavathi / Ammaji
 * Srikanth Iyyengar as Police Officer Trivedi
 * Shatru as Javed Bhai's henchmen
 * Ajay Ghosh as Reporter
 * Raghu Karumanchi
 * Ravi Awana

Soundtrack
Music composed by Anup Rubens. Music released on ADITYA Music Company. Audio was launched on 5 October 2016, held at Hyderabad. Nandamuri Harikrishna NTR, Dil Raju and many other celebrities attended the function.

Hindi Dubbed Soundtrack launched on 14 September 2019 on Digital Music Platforms.

Reception
Srividya Palaparthi of The Times of India gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "The movie is quite predictably every Puri film ever -- an unconquerable hero, a larger than life conspiracy, a bimbo who falls in love as a result of stalking."