Maha Samudram

Maha Samudram is a 2021 Indian Telugu-language romantic action drama film written and directed by Ajay Bhupathi. It is produced by Ramabrahmam Sunkara under AK Entertainments. It stars Siddharth, Sharwanand, Aditi Rao Hydari, and Anu Emmanuel. The music is composed by Chaitan Bharadwaj. The film is set in Visakhapatnam of Andhra Pradesh. The film released on 14 October 2021 amidst decent expectations but ended up as a box office disaster.

Plot
Vijay and Arjun are thick friends. Vijay, an ambitious civil service aspirant with corrupt plans, is an orphan and has a girlfriend named Mahalakshmi aka Maha, who is a dance teacher. He is not serious about his relationship with Maha and lives in Arjun's house. Arjun lives with his widowed mother, who praises Vijay for being ambitious and hard-working despite being an orphan, unlike Arjun. Arjun has an uncle Chunchu Mama, who is a fisherman. Unlike Vijay, Arjun plans to start a business from his father's money accumulated before his death. Arjun meets Smitha, who misunderstands him, but realises her mistake and they start hanging out with each other and fall in love.

One day, Vijay brings Arjun to a factory of illegal drugs and explains that the factory belongs to a smuggler named Dhanunjay, who has a handicapped elder brother Gooni Babji, who created an indestructible crime syndicate. Seeing their smuggling activities, Arjun appreciates Vijay and tells him to start the investigation against them, but Vijay reveals that he joined the police force to become an influential person and partake in illegal activities to earn money. Enraged, Arjun argues with Vijay and Vijay follows Dhanunjay and ends up in their godown, where he accidentally stabs Dhanunjay. A shocked Vijay meets Arjun and Chunchu, revealing the incident. Chunchu tells him to leave for his safety. Arjun tells him to leave for the railway station and offers to bring Maha there. After they arrive, Vijay abandons them. It is revealed that Maha is pregnant with Vijay's child. Arjun brings her to his home, and along with his mother looks after her. Chunchu advises Arjun to become a smuggler to escape Babji's wrath. With much hesitation, Arjun becomes a smuggler and is blamed for Vijay's mistake. Meanwhile, Maha gives birth to a girl and names her Pooja.

Four years later, Arjun becomes the leading smuggler with Chunchu as his right hand. Maha and Pooja live with Arjun and his mother, and Maha does not reveal about Vijay to Pooja. Maha develops feelings for Arjun. Arjun arrives at the court for his case against Babji where he meets Smitha, a successful lawyer, and they start to hang out. Arjun introduces Smitha to his mother. Seeing Smitha, Maha is disappointed thinking she wants to marry him. One day, Smitha understands that Maha is in love with Arjun, and tells him to marry Maha for the sake of Maha and Pooja's happiness. Meanwhile, Vijay returnsk to see Maha, where he finds her with Pooja, Arjun, and his mother. Vijay misunderstands the situation where he meets Babji and finds out that Dhanunjay has not died, but does not handle their business.

Babji manipulates Vijay about his friendship with Arjun. Vijay finds out Arjun's location and goes to meet him and asks him about his family, to which Arjun says he does not need to explain to him. A fight erupts with Arjun where Vijay joins forces with Babji. He kidnaps Pooja and Chunchu, where Chunchu reveals that Pooja is Vijay's daughter and Arjun became a smuggler due to Vijay's mistakes. Heartbroken upon hearing the truth, he frees Chunchu and hugs Pooja. Vijay calls Arjun and tells him that he wants to meet him, not as an enemy but as his friend, and will hand over Pooja to him. Arjun agrees but meets with an accident caused by Babji and loses consciousness. Babji arrives with his henchmen and shoots Vijay after learning that Arjun and Vijay are reconciling and takes Pooja with him. Arjun regains consciousness and finds Vijay dead. He leaves for Babji's factory and rescues Pooja by killing Babji with Chunchu's help. Arjun, Maha, and Pooja are found on a beach having a good time where Arjun proposes to Maha, to which she accepts wholeheartedly & they live together happily.

Production
In 2019, Ajay Bhupati mentioned in an interview a film with Bellamkonda Sreenivas in the lead. However, in early 2020, a bilingual film starring Sharwanand and Siddharth was announced. Naga Chaitanya and Samantha Akkineni were also considered for the lead roles, but this did not materialise.

In October 2020, Aditi Rao Hydari and Anu Emmanuel were cast in the film. Chaitan Bharadwaj who previously composed music for the films RX 100 (2018) and SR Kalyanamandapam (2021), was signed for film's soundtrack. After Jabardasth (2013), Siddharth made a straight comeback to Telugu cinema after 8 years. The film was originally intended to be shot simultaneously in Telugu and Tamil languages. However, the Tamil version was subsequently dropped in favour of a dubbed release.

The principal photography of the film began on 7 December 2020 and wrapped up on 9 July 2021.

Soundtrack
The songs were composed by Chaitan Bharadwaj.

Release
The film was initially scheduled to be released on 19 August 2021, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In August 2021, the new release date was announced as 14 October 2021.