Kshanam

Kshanam (transl. Moment) is a 2016 Indian Telugu-language mystery thriller film released worldwide on 26 February 2016. It was directed by Ravikanth Perepu, with Adivi Sesh and Adah Sharma in lead roles and Anasuya Bharadwaj, Vennela Kishore, Satyam Rajesh, Satyadev Kancharana, and Ravi Varma appearing in supporting roles. Music is by Sricharan Pakala and cinematography by Shaneil Deo. The film was remade in Tamil as Sathya directed by Pradeep Krishnamoorty, in Hindi as Baaghi 2 directed by Ahmed Khan and in Kannada as Aadyaa directed by K. M. Chaitanya.[2][3][4]

Kshanam
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ravikanth Perepu
Screenplay by	Adivi Sesh Ravikanth Perepu Abburi Ravi
Story by	Adivi Sesh
Starring	Adivi Sesh Adah Sharma Anasuya Bharadwaj Vennela Kishore Satyam Rajesh Satyadev Kancharana
Music by	Sricharan Pakala
Cinematography	Shaneil Deo
Edited by	Arjun Shastri Ravikanth Perepu
Production company	PVP cinema
Release date	26 February 2016 (2016-02-26)
Running time	118 minutes
Country	India
Language	Telugu
Box office	est.₹12 crore[1]

Plot

Rishi, a San Francisco-based investment banker, gets a voice call from his ex-lover Shweta. They studied medicine in the same college and wanted to marry, but her father arranged an alliance with an entrepreneur named Karthik. Now in present, Rishi, who still loves Swetha, leaves for India with the pretence of attending a marriage in their relatives' household. He takes a car for hire from Babu Khan, a travel agent. Rishi also takes a SIM card on his sister's address and stays at Hotel Marriott.

Rishi meets Shweta at a restaurant and learns her five-year-old daughter Ria is missing. Things went worse when none except Shweta, including Karthik, believes that Ria actually exists. Rishi also learns about Karthik's brother Bobby, a drug addict who regularly visits her home. Rishi begins an informal investigation which fails many times, also inviting the ire of two Afro-American gangsters in the city. Babu, who helps them in transporting drugs, saves Rishi on humanitarian grounds. Posing as Vasanth Khanna, a police officer, Rishi meets Karthik and learns that the couple was childless. Karthik recalls Shweta being attacked by two masked men before a school to steal her car. He added that Shweta went into a coma and post-recovery started telling that she had a five-year-old daughter named Ria.

Perplexed, Rishi later watches a closed-circuit television video footage of the masked men attacking Shweta on the day when Ria went missing. Unfortunately, Ria is seen nowhere in the footage, which makes Rishi doubt Shweta's mental condition. He confronts Shweta, who refuses to acknowledge that Ria is imaginary. Rishi sees height markings of a child on a wall, and before he could react, Shweta commits suicide. ACP Jaya and Inspector Ravi Chowdary investigate the suicide case. Khanna is killed in Marriott, and Babu confesses to Rishi that he saw Bobby kidnapping Ria. They meet Jaya and Chowdary and get Bobby arrested. In custody, Bobby is killed by Jaya as an act of self-defense.

That same night, Khanna's murderers attack Babu and Rishi, and Babu is killed in the process of shooting the murderers to death. Rishi watches a MMS in the murderers' phone sent by Jaya instructing to kill him. Rishi meets Jaya at her farmhouse, where Ria is hidden. Jaya reveals that Karthik wanted to kill Ria and arranged the attack, after which she found Ria in Bobby's custody. After meeting Ria, Jaya conspires to raise Ria as her daughter because she had lost her husband and unborn daughter in a car accident. She wanted to name her daughter as Ria, so when she sees Shwetha's daughter, she convinced herself that her daughter has came back. Then, Jaya makes a deal with Karthik. Karthik wanted Shweta to suffer; so according to Jaya's plan, he convinced his friends and family to pretend that Ria never existed, saying Shweta cannot bear the shock of her daughter's death.

Before Jaya could kill Rishi, Chowdary shoots her after listening to the conversation on his way to the farmhouse with his subordinates. Karthik is arrested and reveals that Ria was not his daughter, as a medical report confirmed him sterile in the past. Then, Rishi remembers his last meeting with Shweta. She came to him for giving her wedding card, and suddenly, they make love. Then, Rishi realises Ria is his biological child. As he is approaches Ria, he sees a reflection of Shweta smiling at him.

Cast

• Adivi Sesh as Rishi
• Adah Sharma as Swetha
• Anasuya Bharadwaj as ACP Jaya Bharadwaj
• Ravi Varma as Bobby
• Satyadev Kancharana as Karthik
• Amit Sachdev as Commissioner Lucknow
• Satyam Rajesh as Ravi Chowdary
• Vennela Kishore as Babu Khan
• Baby Dolly as Riya
• Abuzy as Nigerian
• Marcellein Koffi Houessou as Nigerian
• Kunle Awosanya as Nigerian
• Seedha Ahmed as Nigerian
• Ravi Raja Maguluri as Assassin
• Shashank Kalavala as Anil
• Vaishnavi Sridhar as Rishi's mother
• Nicola Vann as Stacy
• Anusha Gavarapati as Pooja
• Rachana Koduri as Swetha's friend
• Swaraj Rebbapragada as Swetha's father
• Raju B. as Chotu
• Shanmukha G. as SI Ganesh
• Lalitha Pamidipati as School principal
• Ravikanth Perepu as Marwari Seth
• Ramakrishna Repalle as Rishi's brother-in-law
• Garry BH as Srinivas Reddy
• Luckshmikanth Dev as Sai Prakash
• Amit Sachdev as Jai Singh Mehra
• Uma Akkineni as Hema
• Abhijeeth Deshpande as Jeet

Production

The film's concept was inspired by a small incident in actor and filmmaker Adivi Sesh's life when he felt scared for a four-year-old girl and her friends at a school in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad.[5] Concerned about the girl's safety, Sesh wanted to make a thriller film with the missing of a three-year-old being the backdrop.[6] Prasad V Potluri of PVP Cinema agreed to bankroll the film and Sesh's friend Ravikanth Perepu was chosen to direct the film; it marked the latter's debut in Telugu cinema.[7] Sesh and Perepu worked on the screenplay for ten months. Pre-production phase began three months after the scripting work commenced. Sesh and Perepu chose to work with a low budget to make the project a feasible one, considering the genre's appeal.[7] The film's crew consisted of 20 members; two of Perepu's twelfth grade friends were the associate directors.[7]

While writing the script, Sesh and Perepu discussed possibilities for every situation and discarded the first one as it would be a predictable one.[7] Shaneil Deo was the film's director of photography. Sricharan Pakala composed the film's soundtrack and score. Perepu edited the film with Arjun Shastri;[8] Sesh and the associate directors did involve in the process.[7] Sesh played Rishi, an investment banker who searches for his ex-girlfriend's missing child on her request.[5][6] He stated that Rishi was modelled on his real self in terms of sensibilities except for the fact that the character is an alcoholic.[9]

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Sricharan Pakala and released by Junglee Music. The background score of the film was much appreciated with the songs "Cheliya" and "Ee Kshanam" topping the charts.

Kshanam
Soundtrack album by Sricharan Pakala
Released	21 February 2016
Recorded	2016
Genre	Soundtrack
Length	21:39
Label	Junglee Music
Producer	Sricharan Pakala
Sricharan Pakala chronology
Guntur Talkies (2016) Kshanam (2016) Naruda Donaruda (2016)

Track list

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Ee Kshanam"	Ravikanth Perepu	Ravikanth Perepu	4:04
2.	"Pada Pada Pranama"	Ramajogayya Sastry	Poojan Kohli, Ambika Sashittal	4:22
3.	"Cheliya Cheliya"	Sirasri	Ishaq Vali, Nalini Srikar	4:16
4.	"Nostalgia"		Instrumental	2:15
5.	"Conspiracy"		Instrumental	2:47
6.	"Soul Of Kshanam"		Instrumental	1:51
7.	"Rishi's Destiny"		Instrumental	2:04
Total length:				21:39

Release and Reception

The theatrical trailer was released on 10 February 2016, which increased expectations and curiosity among the audience. Kshanam was released on 26 February 2016 across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and received critical acclaim and received positive response from the first show.[10][11] The Hindu gave it 4 stars.[12]

Box office

In 10 days since its release, Kshanam grossed about ₹ 4.8 crores at the Telugu (AP and Telangana) Box office.[13] It collected $65,679 (₹ 44.83 lakh) from 27 screens at the US box office in the first weekend.[14] In its second weekend, it collected $28,889 from 20 screens at the US box office and its 10-day total US collection stands at $111,037 (₹ 74.68 lakh).[15] the movie was remade in Hindi as Baaghi 2 starring Tiger Shroff and Disha Patani.

Remakes

The film was remade in Tamil as Sathya (2017), in Hindi as Baaghi 2 and is being remade in Kannada as Aadhya.[2][3][4]

Accolades

Ceremony	Category	Nominee	Result	Ref.
64th Filmfare Awards South	Best Film	PVP Cinema	Nominated	[16]
	Best Director	Ravikanth Perepu	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actress	Anasuya Bharadwaj	Nominated
2nd IIFA Utsavam	Best Story	Adivi Sesh	Nominated	[17]
	Best Performance In A Supporting Role – Female	Anasuya Bharadwaj	Nominated
	Best Film	Prasad V. Potluri	Nominated
	Best Screenplay	Adivi Sesh	Won
Nandi Award	Best Screenplay Writer	Adivi Sesh	Won	[18]

References

1. Hooli, Shekhar H. (28 December 2016). "Best of Tollywood 2016: Top 25 highest-grossing Telugu movies of the year". International Business Times, India Edition.
2. "Baaghi 2 official trailer: Tiger Shroff and Disha Patani starrer is a visual treat for action enthusiasts". Bangalore Mirror. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
3. "Sruthi Hariharan, Chiranjeevi Sarja to resume work on the Kannada remake of Kshanam – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
4. "Aadyaa starring Chiranjeevi Sarja and Sruthi Hariharan to release". Times of India. 1 February 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
5. "'Kshanam' most rewarding and stressful film: Adivi Sesh". The Indian Express. Indo-Asian News Service. 22 February 2016. Archived from the original on 21 November 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
6. Jonnalagedda, Pranita (25 February 2016). "Kshanam is my heart and soul on celluloid: Adivi Sesh". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 21 November 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
7. Dundoo, Sangeetha Devi (11 March 2016). "The man behind 'Kshanam'". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 1 April 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
8. Kshanam (motion picture) (in Telugu). India: PVP Cinema. 2016. From 01:57:15 to 01:58:21.
9. Palaparthi, Srividya (3 March 2016). "I'm kicked about the kudos Kshanam got: Adivi Sesh". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 21 November 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
10. "I am glad Kshanam broke all Tollywood stereotypes: Adah Sharma – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
11. "I'm kicked about the kudos Kshanam got: Adivi Sesh – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
12. Sangeetha Devi Dundoo (26 February 2016). "Kshanam review: A well made thriller". The Hindu.
13. "'Kshanam' strikes gold at box office". 8 March 2016. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
14. Hooli, Shekhar H. (1 March 2016). "'Kshanam' US box office collection: Adavi Sesh's film beats 10-day collection of 'Krishnasthami'". International Business Times, India Edition. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
15. Hooli, Shekhar H. (8 March 2016). "US box office collection: 'Kshanam' beats 'Guntur Talkies', 'Shourya', 'KVPG' this weekend". International Business Times, India Edition. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
16. "Filmfare Awards South 2017 Telugu Nominations | Filmfare". filmfare.com. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
17. "iifa Utsavam". iifautsavam.com. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
18. Shekhar H. Hooli. "Nandi Awards 2014, 15 and 16 winners list: Mahesh Babu, Jr NTR, Balakrishna bag best actor awards". ibtimes. Retrieved 15 November 2017.

External links

• Kshanam on IMDb