Simha (film)

Simha (transl. Lion) is a 2010 Indian Telugu-language action film directed by Boyapati Srinu and produced by Paruchuri Kireeti under the United Movies banner. The film stars Nandamuri Balakrishna in a dual role, along with Nayantara and Sneha Ullal while Adithya Menon, Sai Kumar, Namitha, Kota Srinivasa Rao, K. R. Vijaya and Rahman play supporting roles.[4] Music is composed by Chakri, art direction by A. S. Prakash, cinematography by Arthur Wilson and editing by Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao.

Simha
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Boyapati Srinu
Produced by	Paruchuri Kireeti
Written by	Koratala Siva
Starring	Nandamuri Balakrishna Nayantara Sneha Ullal Namitha
Music by	Chakri Chinna (background score)
Cinematography	Arthur A. Wilson
Edited by	Anthony
Production company	United Movies
Release date	30 April 2010
Running time	156 minutes
Country	India
Language	Telugu
Budget	₹180 million[1][2]
Box office	est. ₹360 million[3]

Released on 30 April 2010, the film was commercially successful and ended up becoming one of the highest-grossing Telugu films of the year.[1] Balakrishna received his second Nandi Award for Best Actor for this film.

Plot

Srimannarayana (Nandamuri Balakrishna) is a university lecturer in Hyderabad who lives with his grandmother (K. R. Vijaya). He does not tolerate injustice anywhere and beats up people who dare to break the law, a personality which makes him feared and respected among others. A female lecturer Mahima (Namitha) is attracted to him, though he doesn't reciprocate her feelings. While beating up a goon who threatened to throw acid on a girl after she spurned his advances, he accidentally punches a comatose man on the head, waking him from his 28-year coma. This man's name is Veerakesavudu (Sai Kumar).

One day, a new student Janaki (Sneha Ullal) joins the college where Srimannarayana is teaching. She initially thinks he is a rowdy after an earlier encounter with him and seeing how everyone in the college fears him, but once she finds out about his true personality, she develops a crush on him. One day, after Srimannarayana rescues her from a group of thugs, she reveals her past. Her father, businessman Jagadish Prasad (Rahman), has a business rivalry with Gopi (Adithya Menon), a gangster who happens to be Veerakesavudu's son. After Veerakesavudu woke up from his coma, he ordered Jagadish to give Janaki's hand in marriage to Gopi so their mutual rivalry is finished, to which he agreed, fearing Veerakesavudu's wrath. But Gopi killed Janaki's brother Anand Prasad (Ravi Prakash) during the wedding after he insulted him, prompting Jagadish to send Janaki to Hyderabad to continue her studies. The thugs who tried to kidnap her were Gopi's henchmen. On hearing this, Srimannarayana vows to protect Janaki and accommodates her next to his house. He soon reciprocates her feelings for him, prompting Maheswari to drop her love for him.

Unfortunately for Janaki, Gopi finds out she is with Srimannarayana and kidnaps her, only for Srimannarayana to rescue her after a dramatic car chase. When they reach home, they are confronted by Gopi's henchmen. Jagadish arrives there at the same time that Srimannarayana is fighting the henchmen and in a bid to help, accidentally stabs Srimannarayana's grandmother. Srimannarayana is enraged and attempts to kill him, but his grandmother stops him. Jagadish immediately leaves with Janaki. Later, Srimannarayana confronts his grandmother and asks her why she didn't let him kill Jagadish. In reply, she reveals about their past.

30 years ago, in the town of Bobbili, Veerakesavudu and his family ran a ruthless self-government, tormenting the townsfolk and supported by the police. The only person who dared to fight them back was a doctor named Narasimha (Nandamuri Balakrishna), who belonged to the Bobbili royal family and was the father of Srimannarayana. He took the law into his own hands and killed many of Veerakesavudu's henchmen, including his brothers, when he caught them tormenting others. While not killing others, he ran a 24x7 hospital which provided treatment free of cost. His wife Gayatri (Nayantara) was an ideal wife who was always affectionate towards Narasimha and supported all his methods. Jagadish, who was Gayatri's brother and who wanted to start a business with Veerakesavudu's help, warned her about Narasimha's dangerous behaviour, but she brushed the warnings aside, having full faith in her husband and his methods. Veerakesavudu and his father (Kota Srinivasa Rao) decided to eliminate Narasimha and his family by attempting to poison them during a temple function. When the temple priest warned Narasimha about the threat to his life, Narasimha rushed to Veerakesavudu's house and killed all his men as well as his father. However, Veerakesavudu was ultimately successful in killing Narasimha and Gayatri. But just before he died, Narasimha hit Veerakesavudu on the head, sending him into a coma which he woke up from after 28 years. Narasimha's mother, who happens to be Srimannarayana's grandmother, took the young and newly orphaned Srimannarayana away with her to Hyderabad so that he could be brought up away from the violence in Bobbili.

On hearing about his family's past, Srimannarayana decides to take revenge on Veerakesavudu and heads for Bobbili to finish his father's mission. He single-handedly kills Veerakesavudu, Gopi, and their henchmen, fulfilling the wishes of the Bobbili townsfolk who wanted Veerakesavudu family's reign of terror and horror to be ended for good.

Cast

• Nandamuri Balakrishna in a dual role as Srimannarayana, a college lecturer and Dr. Narasimha, Srimannarayana's father who single-handedly provided justice to the citizens of Bobbili
• Nayantara as Gayatri, Narasimha's wife
• Sneha Ullal as Janaki, a student and Srimannarayana's love interest
• Namitha as Mahima, a colleague of Srimannarayana who is madly in love with him
• Rahman as Jagadish Prasad, a businessman, Gayatri's brother and Janaki's father
• Saikumar as Veerakesavudu, a gangster and the antagonist
• K. R. Vijaya as Srimannarayana's grandmother
• Adithya Menon as Gopi, a gangster and Veerakesavudu's son
• Brahmanandam as Narasimha's compounder
• Kota Srinivasa Rao as Veerakesavudu's father
• Dharmavarapu Subramanyam as Eedara Bhaskar Rao, college principal
• Chalapathi Rao as Bobbili Superintendent of Police
• Venu Madhav as Venkataratnam, the Sanskrit lecturer who is madly in love with Maheswari
• Krishna Bhagavaan as Srimannarayana's servant
• Ravi Prakash as Anand Prasad, Janaki's brother
• Sravan as Veerakesavudu's brother
• L. B. Sriram
• Jhansi
• Anand Ramaraju as Vicky, Politician's son
• Dhamu Dare as Software engineer

Soundtrack

Simha
Film score by Chakri
Released	31 March 2010 (2010-03-31)
Genre	Soundtrack
Length	31:03
Label	Aditya Music
Producer	Chakri (songs), S. Chinna (score)
Chakri chronology
Gopi Gopika Godavari (2009) Simha (2010) Golimaar (2010)

While S. Chinna composed the film score, all the songs featured in the film were composed by Chakri. Music released on ADITYA Music Company. The music was released on 31 March 2010 directly into market. The audio function of the movie was called off as Nandamuri Balakrishna met with an accident.

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Janaki Janaki"	Bhaskarbhatla	Kunal Ganjawala, Tina Kamal	4:39
2.	"Achahai"	Chandrabose	Udit Narayan, Anjana Sowmya	4:36
3.	"Orabba"	Chandrabose	Simha, Adarshini	5:34
4.	"Bangarukonda"	Chandrabose	Hariharan, Kausalya	4:38
5.	"Kanulara Chudhamu"	Veturi Sundararama Murthy	Chakri, Malavika	6:10
6.	"Simhamanti"	Chandrabose	Mano, Sravana Bhargavi	4:53
Total length:				31:03

Reception

Upon release, the film opened to mostly positive reviews. Sify noted "Simha is out and out a formulaic movie. The urge of director Boyapati Srinu can be clearly felt in the theatre when he showed Balakrishna in an extraordinary manner."[5] Rediff gave a two star rating saying "One knows what to expect from a Balakrishna film and Simha is a perfect example of that: a true mainstream entertainer catering to the masses with high-voltage action, overdose of violence and the mandatory songs. Balakrishna has put in a restrained performance."[6] The Times of India stated "Balakrishna is back in his element as a fiery doctor and does a good job. Nayantara delivers a knock-out performance. While Sneha has no role to play, Namitha exudes enough oomph. Even baddies like Sai kumar, Aditya Menon and Kota Srinivas Rao put in a decent performance".[7]

Box office

Simha collected more than ₹360 million and became highest grossing Telugu film of the year.[3] The film ran for 50 days in 338 centers[8] and 100 days in 92 centres.[9] The film's satellite rights were sold off at ₹50 million.[1]

Awards

Award	Category	Recipients and nominees	Outcome
Nandi Awards	Nandi Award for Best Actor	Balakrishna	Won
	Nandi Award for Best Comedian Female	Jhansi	Won
	Nandi Award for Best Music Director	Chakri	Won
CineMAA Awards	CineMAA Award for Best Actor	Balakrishna	Won
Santosham Film Awards	Santhosham Award for Best Actor	Balakrishna	Won
	Santhosham Award for Best Singer Female	Kausalya (Bangaru Konda Song)	Won
	Santhosham Award for Best Director	Boyapati Srinu	Won

References

1. An Average Fare. Indian Express. Retrieved on 19 November 2011.
2. "Boyapati Sreenu interview". Idlebrain.com. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
3. "Top Ten Telugu Films of the year". Sify. Archived from the original on 8 January 2012.
4. Simha Movie Cast Crew. ourcinemas.com
5. Movie Review:Simha. Sify.com. Retrieved on 19 November 2011.
6. Simha is for Balayya's fans – Rediff.com Movies. Movies.rediff.com (30 April 2010). Retrieved on 19 November 2011.
7. Simha movie review: Wallpaper, Story, Trailer at Times of India. Timesofindia.indiatimes.com (1 May 2010). Retrieved on 19 November 2011.
8. http://www.cinejosh.com/newsimg/newsmainimg/1277303128_simha-2-centres.jpg
9. Simha Record 50 days, 338 centres, Rs.62 Crores.(23 June 2010). Retrieved on 19 November 2011.

External links

• Simha on IMDb