Lie (film)

LIE: Love Intelligence Enmity is a 2017 Indian Telugu-language action thriller film written & directed by Hanu Raghavapudi and produced by 14 Reels Entertainment. The film stars Nithiin, Arjun Sarja and Megha Akash, while Sriram and Ravi Kishan play supporting roles. The music was composed by Mani Sharma with cinematography by J. Yuvaraj and editing by M. S. Rajashekhar Reddy. The film released on 11 August 2017 to mixed reviews from the critics, with praise for the cast performances (especially Arjun's), story, cinematography, background score, action sequences, editing, and production values but criticism for the screenplay, direction, love track between the main leads, and climax.

Plot
Sathyam (Nithiin) is a good-for-nothing son of a widowed mother (Poornima). He is unemployed and lives off of his father's (Suresh) monthly pension. He is unmarried and fantasizes about marrying an American girl. By a quirk of fate, Sathyam, along with a stranger named Chaitra (Megha Akash), who has a dream to win a lot of money, end up in Las Vegas, where they decide to only lie with one another. Shortly after, they start to fall in love with one another through their beautiful lies.

At the National Investigation Agency (NIA), a frustrated officer named Bharadwaj (Ravi Kishan) is desperate to nab an elusive criminal named Padmanabham (Arjun Sarja), who has escaped the long arm of the law for 19 years. Padmanabham is a famous Indian ropewalker and magician, but he is also a master of disguise. Thus, the NIA has no idea what he looks like. He is now suspected to be residing in the USA. Bharadwaj has drafted a sharp officer named Aadi (Sriram) to discover Padmanabham's hideout and identity by following a suit which he has purchased and is assumed to have an obsession with. The operation of this mission is called Sholay, implying that Aadi is the showman.

All along, Padmanabham tries to go after the team, which is trying to trace him, only to end up with Sathyam, who was a part of this operation the whole time. The rest of the film is about how Sathyam is related to the entire operation floated to crack Padmanabham, and how the hero-villain duo and other characters race against time. In the end, Sathyam finally kills Padmanabham.

Cast

 * Nithin as Sathyam
 * Arjun Sarja as Padmanabham, a magician and criminal
 * Sriram as Aadi, undercover Central Intelligence officer
 * Megha Akash as Chaitra, Sathyam's love interest
 * Hasini Anvi as Young Chaitra
 * Ravi Kishan as Bharadwaj
 * Nassar as Vishwanadham
 * Ajay as Ajay, Padmanabham's henchman
 * Suresh as Sathyam's father
 * Poornima as Sathyam's mother
 * Brahmaji as Narada
 * Rajiv Kanakala as Chaitra's father
 * Pramodini Pammi as Chaitra's mother
 * Prudhvi Raj as Indrudu
 * Surya as Srihari
 * Madhunandan as Vennela, Sathyam's friend
 * Chandini Chowdary as Sathyam's proposed bride
 * Jahnavi Dasetty as Chaitra's friend
 * Ashish Gandhi as Cop
 * Kadambari Kiran as Travel Agent
 * Appaji Ambarisha Darbha as Painter (Voice-over by Hemachandra)

Soundtrack
The music was composed by Mani Sharma and was released on Aditya Music Company.

Critical response
Priyanka Sundar from The Indian Express wrote "Such technical brilliance, especially the beautiful shots in Las Vegas is lost in the confusion that has taken shape on screen". A reviewer of Samayam says "Mani Sharma's background score is a plus for the movie. All in all, Hanu Raghavapudi has impressed with his take as a director. Audiences who like stylish action intellectual thriller mind game movies will definitely like 'Lie'." Srivathsan Nadadhur from The Hindu wrote "A simple story with a complex narrative, Lie is a director’s show. Hanu Raghavapudi proves he’s here to stay for long."