Miss India (film)

Miss India is a 2020 Indian Telugu-language business drama film written and directed by Narendra Nath. It stars Keerthy Suresh, Jagapathi Babu, Rajendra Prasad, Naresh, Nadhiya, and Naveen Chandra. The plot follows Manasa Samayuktha (Keerthy), a girl from a middle-class South Indian family, who dreams of having her tea business in the US. The film received average reviews.

The film has been produced by Mahesh S. Koneru under East Coast Productions. Dani Sanchez-Lopez and Sujith Vaassudev handled the cinematography, while S. Thaman composed the music. The film was planned to be released on 17 April 2020 but has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film is released on Netflix on 4 November 2020 in Telugu along with dubbed versions in Tamil and Malayalam.

Plot
Manasa Samyuktha (Keerthy Suresh), a woman with big goals from a middle-class family, moves to the US after her brother Arjun (Kamal Kamaraju) got a job. She dreams of starting up her own tea business as promised to her grandfather (Rajendra Prasad) to continue his legacy but her family does not agree due to financial problems. On the way to becoming a successful businesswoman, she is forced to deal with sexism, criticism, and rivalry with Kailash Sivakumar (KSK) (Jagapathi Babu). KSK is a dangerous rival coffee manufacturer who tries to put her down, saying that a woman can never be successful, especially in business. Manasa decides to beat him and show him that a woman can be anything she aspires to be. The story revolves around her journey and the problems she faces while she attempts to start up her business.

Cast

 * Keerthy Suresh as Manasa Samyuktha
 * Jagapathi Babu as Kailash Sivakumar a.k.a. KSK
 * Rajendra Prasad as Dr. Vishwanath, Manasa, Sahana, and Arjun's grandfather
 * Naresh as Sivarama Krishna, Manasa, Sahana, and Arjun's father
 * Nadhiya as Kamala, Manasa, Sahana and Arjun's mother
 * Naveen Chandra as Vijay Anand, Manasa's former love interest
 * Bhanu Sri Mehra as Sahana, Manasa's elder sister
 * Sumanth Shailendra as Vikram, Manasa's business partner
 * Kamal Kamaraju as Arjun Chaitanya, Manasa's elder brother
 * Praveen as Vijju, an employee in Miss India
 * Pujita Ponnada as Padma Nayana, Manasa's classmate, and deceiver
 * Divya Sripada as Preethi, Manasa's friend

Soundtrack
The music is composed by S. Thaman and released by Aditya Music. The first single, "Kotthaga Kotthaga" written by Kalyan Chakravarthi and sung by Shreya Ghoshal and S. Thaman, was released on 7 February 2020. The next single "Lacha Gummadi" was sung by Srivardhini and released on 28 October 2020. The third single "Theme of Miss India" was sung by Harika Narayan and Sruthi Ranjani and was released on 29 October 2020. The album was released on 2 November 2020.

Release
The film was released on Netflix on 4 November 2020 in Telugu along with dubbed versions in Tamil and Malayalam Languages.

Reception
The film was given average to mixed reviews by reviewers, with praise for the concept but criticism for various contrivances and inconsistencies in the plot, poor dialogues and characterization, and a lack of understanding of misogyny.