Nijam

Nijam is a 2003 Indian Telugu-language action film written, directed and produced by Teja on Chitram Movies banner. The film stars Mahesh Babu, Rakshita, Gopichand and Raasi, with music was composed by R. P. Patnaik.

Babu and Talluri Rameshwari won the Nandi Awards in Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress categories respectively. It was remade in Odia as Arjun (2005) starring Anubhav Mohanty and in Bangladesh as Top Leader (2005) starring Shakib Khan.

Plot
Sidda Reddy is a powerful gangster whose right hand is Devadaya "Devudu" Sharma, who has a lover named Malli. Reddy, who also likes Malli, takes her to his bed, which is not liked by Devudu. Eventually, Devudu kills Reddy and becomes the leader of the gang. Venkateswarlu is a fire officer, who slaps Devudu when he set a marketplace on fire and as continued throwing kerosene at the marketplace. Devudu holds a grudge against Venkateswarlu, where he sends him to prison on a framed charge of the murder of Malli's brother Baddu. Venkateswarlu's son G. Seetharam tries to rescue his father, but everybody starts asking him for a bribe to do the work. At the end of the day, the CI and Devudu kill Venkateswarlu. Enraged, Seetaram's mother Shanthi and Seetharam executes the people involved in Venkateswarlu's death in a planned and scientific manner and also finishes Devudu, thus exacting their vengeance.

Cast

 * Mahesh Babu as G. Sitaram
 * Rakshita as Janaki
 * Gopichand as Devadaya "Devudu" Sharma
 * Raasi as Malli
 * Prakash Raj as ACP Raja Narendra
 * Jaya Prakash Reddy as Sidda Reddy
 * Ranganath as G. Venkateswarlu, Sitaram's father
 * Rameshwari as Shanti, Sitaram's mother
 * Brahmaji as CI D. Mohan
 * Vijayachander as DGP
 * Jeeva as DCP Murali Krishna
 * Suman Setty as Baddu
 * Kanta Rao as Narayana Rao
 * Rallapalli as a butcher
 * Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam as a traffic constable
 * Kondavalasa as Sitaram's neighbor
 * Duvvasi Mohan as Patil
 * Tirupathi Prakash
 * Shakeela
 * Alapati Lakshmi
 * Master Ghatamaneni Jaya Krishna as a young Sitaram

Cameo appearance

 * Mani Chandana as a dancer (cameo appearance in the song "Rathalu Rathalu")

Soundtrack
Music was composed by R. P. Patnaik. Lyrics were penned by Kula Shekar. Music was released on Aditya Music.

Reception
Jeevi of Idlebrain gave 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Overall, it's an average film that has chances to become hit because of the Teja's mass-attracting episodes and Mahesh Babu's brilliant portrayal of the character". Vijayalakshmi of Rediff wrote "Only a couple of things salvage director Teja's Nijam -- the first is an excellent performance by lead star and teen sensation Mahesh. The second is cinematographer Samir Reddy's camera work.

Box office
In an interview, Teja said "We made Nijam in a budget of ₹6.5 crore; We sold audio rights for ₹2 crore and movie initially were sold for a total of ₹26 crore. In total, we made a profit of ₹5-6 crore and Nijam was not a flop". In an interview with The Hindu, Teja told "I worked with Mahesh after he had a flop called Bobby, but Nijam released after Okkadu and people drew comparisons. I don’t argue when people say Nijam was a flop. The film was made with a budget of ₹6.5 crore and sold for ₹21 crore. I repaid money to whoever lost money and still made a huge profit".

Dubbed versions and remakes
The film was also dubbed into Tamil as Nijam, and then again in 2012 as Seerum Singam. The film was dubbed as Meri Adalat in Hindi, in Bengali as Aamar Protishodh and in Bhojpuri as Hamaar Faisla. It was remade as Arjun (2005) in Odia starring Anubhab Mohanty and Gargi Mohanty and Bangladesh as Top Leader (2005) starring Shakib Khan.

Won

 * Nandi Awards
 * Best Actor - Mahesh Babu
 * Best Supporting Actress - Talluri Rameshwari


 * CineMAA Awards
 * Best Villain - Gopichand


 * Filmfare Awards South
 * Best Actor - Telugu - Mahesh Babu

Nominated

 * Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress - Telugu - Taluri Rameswari


 * CineMAA Awards
 * CineMAA Award for Best Actor - Male - Mahesh Babu
 * CineMAA Award for Best Film - Teja