Munna (2007 film)

Munna is a 2007 Indian Telugu-language action drama film directed by Vamshi Paidipally in his directorial debut and produced by Dil Raju. The film stars Prabhas and Ileana D'Cruz in lead roles, while Prakash Raj, Kota Srinivasa Rao and Rahul Dev appear the supporting roles.

Munna was released on 26 April 2007.

Plot
Mahesh Kumar alias "Munna" is a college student whose aim is to finish Kamalakar alias Khakha, a crime boss who keeps the entire city under his grip. It is revealed that Khakha is actually Munna's estranged father who was responsible for the deaths of his mother and Munna's young sister. Kakha's opposition Aatma asks Munna to join him, but he refuses his proposal. A mind game ensues where Khakha's second wife, son Rahul and daughter Shruthi leave him and join Munna. After many incidents including his best friend's death, Munna finds out that Aatma was working for Khakha. Aatma and Khakha plans to kill Munna in a factory, but Aatma turns against Khakha and Munna in turn of events. Khakha kills Aatma for his betrayal and commits suicide after losing everything that he worked for his life. With his vengeance completed, Munna leaves the factory.

Cast

 * Prabhas as Mahesh Kumar alias Munna
 * Manoj Nandam as a young Munna
 * Ileana D'Cruz as Nidhi Chowdary
 * Prakash Raj as Kamalakar alias Khakha
 * Kota Srinivasa Rao as Srinivasa Rao
 * Rahul Dev as Aatma
 * Kalyani as Munna's mother
 * Sukanya as Kaka's second wife and Munna's stepmother
 * Surya as Dr. Niranjan Chowdary, Nidhi's father
 * Sudha as Nidhi's mother
 * Tanikella Bharani as Qasim
 * Posani Krishna Murali as Kishan
 * Brahmaji as Purushottam
 * Venu Yeldandi as Tillu
 * Sridhar Rao as Rahul, Munna's stepbrother
 * Venu Madhav as 'Spoon' Mohan
 * Chalapathi Rao as Home Minister M. Sudhakar
 * Raghu Babu as Satti Pandu
 * Sameer Hasan as an Inspector
 * Gundu Sudharshan as a priest
 * Uttej as Gun Seller
 * Sandra as Nidhi's friend
 * Sridhar as Prakash
 * Prabhas Sreenu as Sridhar's henchman
 * Fish Venkat as Kaka's henchman
 * Medha Bahri as Shruti, Munna's stepsister
 * Sanjay Vellanki as Munna's friend

Cameo appearance

 * Vamshi Paidipally as passerby to 'Spoon' Mohan
 * Shriya Saran in the song "Chammakkuro"

Music
The film had six songs composed by Harris Jayaraj. The Audio was launched on 23 March 2007 in the presence of guests like Krishnam Raju, Allu Arjun, Sukumar and Bhaskar. Bhaskar released the audio cassette and presented the first unit to Sukumar, Allu Arjun presented the first audio CD to Prabhas. Soundtrack version of 'Manasa' featured the vocals of Sadhana Sargam while the film version retained vocals provided by Mahalakshmi Iyer. Harris Jayaraj received a nomination for Filmfare Best Music Director for his work in the film. Sadhana Sargam won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer – Telugu for the song "Manasa". The song "Baga Baga" is based on Karu Karu Vizhigalal, which itself is based on Westlife’s ‘Hit You With The Real Thing’.

Release
The film was released on 26 April 2007. The film was also dubbed and released in Tamil as Vetri Thirumagan, in Hindi as Bagawat Ek Jung, in Malayalam with the same name and later in Hindustani as Rowdy Munna.

Critical reception
Idlebrain gave 3/5 stars and praised Prabhas' performances, stylized direction and budget, but criticized its narration and wrote "There is no holistic perspective in the film. Let us wait and see if Dil Raju's 'Midas Touch' works for this film or not!."

Remakes
The film was also remade into Bangladesh Bengali as Amar Challenge starring Shakib Khan, Sahara, Misha Sawdagor and Shiba Shanu.

Awards

 * Sadhana Sargam won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer – Telugu for the song "Manasa".
 * Nandi Award for Best Cinematographer - Ram Prasad