Veera Simha Reddy

Veera Simha Reddy is a 2023 Indian Telugu-language action drama film written and directed by Gopichand Malineni and produced by Mythri Movie Makers. It stars Nandamuri Balakrishna in titlular dual role, with Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Honey Rose, Shruti Haasan And Duniya Vijay in lead roles, along with Lal, Ajay Ghosh, John Kokken, Naveen Chandra and Murali Sharma in supporting roles. The film score and soundtrack were composed by S. Thaman.

Principal photography commenced in February 2022 and ended in December 2022. Veera Simha Reddy was released on 12 January 2023, coinciding on the Sankranthi weekend and clashing with Waltair Veeraya. The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics and performed decently at the box-office, grossing ₹134 crore worldwide.

Plot
In Istanbul, Meenakshi runs a restaurant of "Rayalaseema Cuisine" and lives with her son, Jai Simha Reddy, who owns a car dealership. Through a scuffle at his dealership, he gets acquainted with a tone-deaf wannabe singer named Isha and falls in love with her. Jai goes to Isha's home along with Meenakshi for a marriage proposal, where he meets her father Jayaram, a tycoon. While the talks are proceeding, Meenakshi discloses to Isha's parents about Jai's father, Veera Simha Reddy, who is a leader in Pulicherla, Andhra Pradesh.

Veera Simha Reddy is the arbiter who tries to eradicate the infamous factionalism. He odds with fiend faction leader Pratap Reddy, who aims to assassinate him. Pratap Reddy tries it out a plurality of times but to no avail. Every time, Veera Simha Reddy alms his life of him when his callous wife, Bhanumati, always spits as he cannot avenge her past miseries, for which she holds Veera Simha Reddy accountable. Pratap Reddy ruses by mingling with his uncle, Minister Peddi Reddy, to squat in a factory owned by industrialist Raj Gopal, constructed 30 years ago with the aim of Veera Simha Reddy and about to lay the foundation stone for a new factory, which prominent politicians are arriving at. Immediately, Raj Gopal proceeds to Veera Simha Reddy's aid, who gallantly encounters and single-handedly backfires their convoy at a milestone. Thus, he solicits negotiations from the Home Minister Krishna Reddy to intimidate him. In turn, Veera Simha Reddy uproars, proclaiming their malfeasance and alerting them never to impede his way.

Meanwhile, Veera Simha Reddy receives a phone call from Meenakshi, who invites him, and he packs up. After reaching, he is under cloud nine to see his son Jai, who is unbeknownst to him. Then, they move to Jayaram, affirming that though Veera Simha Reddy has not knitted Meenakshi, they share a pure relationship, and Jayaram happily accepts. Soon after their departure, Jayaram is frightened since he is one of the factory investors. Ergo, he indicates Veera Simha Reddy's presence in Turkey when the brutal cabal gets down there when the battle erupts.

On the verge of killing Pratap Reddy as a flabbergast, Veera Simha Reddy bars listening to the voice of Bhanumati calling him brother, revealing that they are siblings. She implores to leave her husband when suddenly ruthlessly Pratap Reddy & Bhanumati backstab him. Jai attempts to raid, but Veera Simha Reddy stops him, saying he can repeatedly die for his sister. Before leaving his breath, Veera Simha Reddy instructs Jai to perform his final rights in his motherland. Jai carries his father's corpse to Rayalaseema and conducts the funeral between a great multitude of fanatics drowning under woe. Following, Jai questions the underlying reason for Bhanumati's animosity when Siddappa, the true blue of Veera Simha Reddy, divulges the past.

Indeed, Bhanumati is the illicit progeny of Veera Simha Reddy's father, yet he idolizes and dedicates his life to her. Meenakshi is his cross-cousin, who has endeared him since childhood. She awaits their wedlock until the accomplishment of Bhanumati's espousal, but unfortunately, they are consummate. Their adjacent village, Musali Madugu, was in constant torment under Gangi Reddy, who was Pratap Reddy's father. Once, a child from Musali who was a victim of Gangi's atrocities approached Veera Simha Reddy to liberate them from his evil clutches. Fourth, Veera Simha Reddy charged into the village, and a fight ensued and culminated with Veera Simha Reddy decapitating Gangi Reddy while Pratap watched helplessly.

In the interim, Bhanumati loved Siddhappa's son, Shekar, when Veera Simha Reddy heartfully approves and engages them. The customary contests are held in that area where Veera Simha Reddy triumphs every year. This minute, Pratap Reddy subterfuges, delaying him when Shekar takes part in protecting Veera Simha Reddy's reputation, and he is beaten. In that furious mode, drunkard Shekar indulged in gunfire that inadvertently killed a villager, Suri. Currently, Veera Simha Reddy upholds piety and ostracises Shekar. As a result, he commits suicide. Spotting it, fierce Bhanumati turns into a foe to his brother, claiming all his love & affection as a hoax and pledges to seek vengeance. On that account, she spliced Pratap Reddy and commanded him not to touch her before Veera Simha Reddy's death. Grief-stricken Veera Simha Reddy decides to renounce all comforts as a penalty and requests Meenakshi to quit his life, which she does, hiding the secret of her pregnancy.

Present: Siddappa tells Jai to go back. Raj Gopal switches to surrendering the factory to miscreants. Jai strikes on them all at once to perpetuate his father's ambition and challenges Pratap to enter without his aunt's background. Infuriated by this comment, Pratap Reddy smacks Bhanumati, asserting that he is the one who instigated revenge in her mind with the homicide of Shekar. Knowing it, remorseful Bhanumati collapses and walks to Jai, making him free from all bonds by killing herself. During the time of her cremation, Pratap Reddy attacks when Jai onslaughts. At last, he ceases Pratap Reddy and merges his aunt's ashes in his father's grave. Finally, the movie ends happily, with Jai Simha Reddy continuing his father's legacy.

Cast

 * Nandamuri Balakrishna in a dual role as Pulicherla Veera Simha Reddy and Jai Simha Reddy
 * Master Sri Ghana as Child Veera Simha Reddy
 * Varalaxmi Sarathkumar as Bhanumathi, Pratap Reddy's wife, Veera Simha Reddy's sister, and Jai's aunt
 * Baby Aadhya as child Bhanumati
 * Honey Rose as Pulicherla Meenakshi, Veera Simha Reddy's cousin-turned-wife and Jai's mother
 * Duniya Vijay as Musali Madugu Pratap Reddy, Veera Simha Reddy's rival, Gangi Reddy's son and Bhanumati's husband (voice dubbed by P. Ravi Shankar)
 * Shruti Haasan as Isha Jayaram, Jayaram's daughter and Jai's love interest
 * Lal as Siddhappa, Veera Simha Reddy's right-hand man
 * Naveen Chandra as Shekhar Reddy, Siddhappa's son and Bhanumati's ex-fiancé
 * Rupesh Marrapu as Sekhar's friend
 * Ajay Ghosh as Addibakula Peddi Reddy, Pratap Reddy's uncle
 * Murali Sharma as Jayaram, Isha's father
 * John Kokken as Raja Reddy, Pratap Reddy's cousin
 * P. Ravi Shankar as Home Minister Krishna Reddy
 * Killi Kranthi as Keshava
 * B. S. Avinash as Musali Madugu Gangi Reddy, Pratap Reddy's father
 * Pammi Sai as Sai Reddy, Peddi Reddy's PA
 * Sachin Khedekar as Rajagopal, Factory Owner
 * Raghu Babu as Durga Reddy, Bhanumati's suitor's father
 * Sapthagiri as Giri, Jai's supervisor
 * Rajeev Kanakala as Suri Reddy, a villager
 * Sekhar as Veeranna, Suri's brother-in-law
 * Easwari Rao as Siddhappa's wife
 * Sameer as Rudra Reddy, Veera Simha Reddy's father
 * Annapurna as Veera Simha Reddy's grandmother
 * Rajitha as Veera Simha Reddy's relative
 * Rajashree Nair as Meenakshi's mother
 * Naga Mahesh as Varada Reddy, a villager
 * Goparaju Ramana as head priest
 * Duvvasi Mohan as a priest
 * Ananth Babu as a priest
 * Chammak Chandra
 * Archana Ananth as Isha's mother
 * Aruna Bhikshu as Isha's grandmother
 * Harika Koyilamma as Isha's sister
 * Siva Krishna as Ramgopal Reddy
 * Meena Kumari as Veera Simha Reddy's relative
 * Chandrika Ravi in item number "Maa Bava Manobhavalu"
 * Ramajogayya Sastry in a cameo appearance
 * Brahmanandam in a cameo appearance as Ismail, a judge in the "Voice of Europe" music show
 * Ali in a cameo appearance as Darbar, a judge in the "Voice of Europe" music show
 * Manisha Eerabathini in a cameo appearance as host in the "Voice of Europe" music show
 * Niranjan as Dancer Child
 * Master Sathwik as a victim of Gangi Reddy

Development
In late January 2021, it was reported that Gopichand Malineni would team up with Nandamuri Balakrishna for his next directional, funded by Naveen Yerneni and Y. Ravi Shankar under Mythri Movie Makers. The project was officially announced on 10 June, on the occasion of Balakrishna's birthday, with the working title NBK107. Thaman S was brought on-board to compose the score. A muhurtam ceremony was held on 13 November in Hyderabad.

Casting
In mid June 2021, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar was reported to play an important role in the film. In mid August, Vijay Sethupathi was reported to play the lead antagonist role, thus making the film as his second Telugu film after Uppena (2021), but turned to be false. In October, Shruti Haasan was reported to play the lead female role, alongside Balakrishna. She was reported to receive inr 25000000 for remuneration. Shruti's commitments were officially announced on 5 November. Kannada actor Duniya Vijay was announced playing the lead antagonist on 3 January 2022. Few days later, Varalaxmi's commitments were officially announced.

Filming
Principal photography begam on 18 February 2022 in Sircilla and commenced in December. In October 2022, the film's official title was unveiled as Veera Simha Reddy.

Music
The music of the film is composed by Thaman S. The first single titled "Jai Balayya" was released on 26 November 2022. The second single titled "Suguna Sundari" was released on 15 December 2022. The third single titled "Maa Bava Manobhavalu" was released on 24 December 2022. The fourth single titled "Mass Mogudu" was released on 9 January 2023.

Theatrical
Veera Simha Reddy released on 12 January 2023, for the Sankranti weekend. Theatrical rights of the film were sold at a cost of ₹73 crore.

Home Media
The digital streaming rights of the film were acquired by Disney+ Hotstar for ₹14 crore, and was premiered on 23 February 2023. It was premiered on television on Star Maa on 23 April 2023.

Critical reception
123Telugu gave 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "On the whole, Veera Simha Reddy is a decent action entertainer that has all the commercial elements to entertain Balakrishna fans." Manoj Kumar R of The Indian Express rated the film 3.25 out of 5 stars and wrote "The troubling part of Veera Simha Reddy, by that token most of Balakrishna's movies, is that it argues its okay to kill to solve a problem". Neeshita Nyayapati of The Times of India gave 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Veera Simha Reddy is Balakrishna’s film through-and-through. However, where he triumphs as Veera, he fails as Jai. Whenever the man comes on-screen donned is black is when you feel like paying attention, his cakey makeup and lukewarm performance while playing the other character takes away from it." Janani K of India Today gave the film a rating of 2.5 out of 5 and termed the film as "reeks of clichéd ideas", criticised  the storyline while praised the performance of Balakrishna.

Haricharan Pudipeddi of Hindustan Times wrote "The film thrives on violence and some exquisitely shot action sequences, which are a treat to watch. As the central character Veera Simha Reddy, Balakrishna holds the film together and its quite literally a one-man show." Bhuvanesh Chandar of The Hindu wrote "Violent scenes that bank on shock value, powerful antagonists, and an intriguing larger narrative worked well to complement the slow-motion chest-thumping moments. In Veera Simha Reddy, we have a loosely knit and archaic narrative told through a template screenplay."

Box office
Veera Simha Reddy grossed ₹54+ crore worldwide on its opening day, including ₹36.2 crore from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana combined. Thus, it became the highest opening grosser for Nandamuri Balakrishna. The film has grossed US$747,000 by the first day of its release in the United States. By the end of its theatrical run, Veera Simha Reddy grossed ₹134 crore worldwide including a distributors' share of ₹79.82 crore.