Swamy Ra Ra

Swamy Ra Ra is a 2013 Indian Telugu-language crime comedy film written and directed by Sudheer Varma in his directorial debut and produced by Chakri Chigurupati under Lakshmi Narasimha Entertainments. It stars Nikhil Siddharth and Swathi Reddy while Satya, Pooja Ramachandran and Ravi Babu play supporting roles. In the film, Surya, along with his pickpocket friends are chased by a dangerous goon as he wants to deliver a stolen golden Vinayaka idol to a minister.

The film was released on 23 March 2013, and became a sleeper hit at box office. It was considered as one of the "25 Greatest Telugu Films Of The Decade" by Film Companion and was remade in Kannada as Jamboo Savari (2014).

Plot
A gold Vinayaka idol worth nearly inr 100000000 is stolen by its residing priest of the Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple with the help of a security guard. The idol, which actually is part of the newly found temple treasure, is sold to a mysterious person who dies in a car accident. A kid takes the idol from the ground and presents it to his friend. That man sells this idol to a goldsmith in Alappuzha in Kerala for inr 6000. The goldsmith sells it to a rich man in Mangalore, Karnataka for ₹37,000. He, in turn, sells it to another rich man in Shimoga for inr 190000. This idol is sold to another rich man in Bellary for ₹50,000. The idol is sold to a millionaire in Tamil Nadu for inr 200000 which in turn is sold in Madurai for inr 600000, which reaches a Trader in Hyderabad for inr 1100000.

Surya, Bhanu, Ravi are pickpocketers who rob people together. Swati is a news reporter whose parents are in the US on a short trip. Swati buys a yellow colour Vespa which is stolen by Surya while being chased by a person as Surya and Ravi rob him. After filing a complaint at the police station, Swati finds Surya riding her vehicle. Surya, after being stopped by Swati, claims to be a software engineer working at HP who bought this vehicle from a third party. Surya and Swati become friends and Surya later introduces Bhanu and Ravi to Swati as his colleagues in HP. Meanwhile, Giri goes to buy the idol from the Trader on behalf of gangster Durga Prasad whose obligation is to deliver the idol to a minister in order to get exonerated from all criminal cases and join politics. Giri kills the Trader, where he takes the idol, goes to Durga's house and gives him the money he sent for and tells that the trader was dead and the idol is missing.

Later, Durga gives the same bag to his personal lawyer and finds blood stains on the bag. He sends his henchmen to trace Giri and get the idol from him. However, Giri keeps the idol in Swati's handbag when he runs into her and notes her Vespa's vehicle number. At Swati's home, Surya's acquaintance Chotu steals the idol from her handbag and gives it to Surya. Surya along with Bhanu and Ravi approaches Shankar via Jogi, who is entitled to a commission of 10% of the sale price. Shankar decides to buy it for ₹5 crore, but Ravi foolishly reveals in a hurry that they are lucky to get ₹5 lakhs. They leave for Swati's house that night and celebrate terming salary hike as the reason. The next morning, Durga goes to Swati's house and searches her handbag, where he kills Giri in front of them and demands the whereabouts of the idol. While travelling to Shankar's house, two professional killers threaten them to vacate the car as they are in a hurry to escape from the cops.

At this point, the trio and Swati flee to Swati's friend Dolly's house. Shankar sells the idol to two Nigerian thugs who approached Shankar via Jogi. One of the thugs lusts after Shankar's aide Vijji. Jogi is insulted by Shankar by denying to give his commission after the Nigerians leave. Jogi calls the trio and asks Surya to get Shankar's purse before he reaches the place of consignment where the price would be paid by showing a inr 10 note given by the Nigerian thug duo as hawala. If the note is brought, it would be shared among the trio and Jogi in equal ratio. The trio successfully snatches Shankar's purse without his knowledge and tear the note into two halves, one with Surya and other with Jogi. Surya learns that Swati is kidnapped by Durga, who demands the idol to set Swati free. Surya calls Shankar and learns from him that the idol is in Novotel after he gave his half note. Jogi then calls Shankar to bring inr 50000000 in exchange for the other half to Novotel.

Meanwhile, Vijji succeeds in seducing the Nigerian thug, allowing her to tie him up and gets the locker code and flees with the idol. Surya learns about the locker code, goes to the room only to find an empty locker and being chased by the armed Nigerian thugs. In the hotel's cellar, Shankar gets his half note and shows the ₹5 crore cash in a bag. In no time the trio, ignorant of the presence of the bag in the car, get into the car along with Vijji and leave. Shankar chases them in his car, Jogi chases them in his friend's car, the Nigerians hijacks a car and chase them. Bhanu snatches the idol from Vijji and abandons her on the road. Surya is summoned by Durga to Dog House to give the idol and take Swati away. The cars of Surya, Shankar, Jogi, the Nigerian thugs and the minister reach there and all of them enter the Dog House. The professional killers, who robbed Durga's car in the past are employed by the minister to kill Durga, reach there and wait outside for the right time.

A mexican standoff ensues with Shankar aiming at Surya, who in turn is aimed by Jogi with a gun. Jogi is aimed at by the Nigerian thugs, who are in turn aimed by Durga. Durga is aimed by a gangster, who in turn is aimed at by Durga's henchman. The minister who enters at this point is aimed by Shankar with his second gun, forming a nearly completed circle. The killers entered the room and in chaos, everyone is killed except the trio, Swati, Durga and one of the Nigerian thugs. The Nigerian thugs and Durga shoot each other fatally while the trio along with Swati flee with the idol. On the way home, Swati declares her love for Surya to her mother in his presence. The tire gets punctured and the trio gets down to check the tire, but in the car's decklid, they find the bag containing the money. The trio jump in joy while Swati is ignorant of this and remains normal. The idol is sent back to Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple while Surya tries to secure a job in HP before Swati's parents return.

Cast

 * Nikhil Siddharth as Surya
 * Swati Reddy as Swati
 * Ravi Babu as Durga Prasad
 * Pooja Ramachandran as Bhanu
 * Jeeva as Shankar
 * Ravi Varma as Giri
 * Praveen as Jogi
 * Satya as Ravi
 * Bhanu
 * Jogi Krishnam Raju
 * Jogi Naidu
 * Master Sathwik as Chotu
 * Murali Krishna
 * Nara Rohit (narrator)

Production
This is the second film from Lakshmi Narasimha Entertainments.

Casting
Nikhil plays the role of a pick-pocketer in this film. Nikhil mentioned in his Twitter that he is excited to work with actor Ravi Babu, who is playing a crucial role in the film.

Filming
The film started its regular shooting on 16 July 2012 at Attapur in Hyderabad. The 1st schedule of the film was completed on 7 August 2012 in the surroundings of Hyderabad. The 2nd schedule started on 22 August and was completed on 7 September 2012. A schedule was started in the surroundings of Hyderabad on 23 September 2012 it was continued to 6 October 2012. A 20-day schedule started on 14 October 2012. Some key scenes and songs were shot in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Launch
The audio was launched on 23 January 2013 at Taj Deccan in Hyderabad. It was attended by Nani, Srinivas Avasarala, Allari Naresh, Manoj Manchu, Nara Rohit, Sunil, Regina, Nandini Reddy, Mohan Krishna Indraganti and BVSN Prasad.

Track list
The film's music was composed by Sunny M.R. Musicperk.com rated the album 8/10, quoting "A fresh waft of cool music! Experimental Magic with simplicity".

Release
The film was given 'U/A' certificate. It was released on 23 March 2013. Cinema5, a subsidiary of TV5, distributed the film in the United States.

Reception
Swamy Ra Ra received positive reviews from critics.

Jeevi of Idlebrain gave 3.25 out of 5 stars and wrote Swamy Ra Ra is a class crime comedy. And you can watch it. Oneindia gave 3 out of 5 stars and states that Nikhil's action is one of the biggest plus points for the film. Sify gave 3 out of 5 stars and wrote Swamy Ra Ra has many positives to talk about: stylized narration, some interesting sequences and the superb music. Karthik Pasupulate of The Times of India gave 3.5 out of 5 stars and stated it all you feel like you seen some cinema and not some mish mashed formula package. The Hindu wrote "The film will pick-pocket your brain and you'll most probably end up feeling richer, if not a millionaire."

Legacy
After the success of the film, Nikhil Siddharth and Swathi Reddy starred in Karthikeya (2014).