''Aadi'' is a 2002 Indian
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India
** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language.
* Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...
-language
action drama
The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...
film written and directed by debutant
V. V. Vinayak. The film stars
N. T. Rama Rao Jr.
Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Jr. (born 20 May 1983), popularly known as NTR Jr, is an Indian actor, producer, and television presenter who primarily works in Telugu cinema. He is one of the highest-paid actors in Indian cinema and has been featur ...
and
Keerthi Chawla
Keerthi Chawla is an Indian actress, who was worked in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Kannada
Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the popula ...
. The film was a huge commercial Blockbuster and was remade in
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
People, culture and language
* Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka
** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
as ''
Jai''. The film won four
Nandi Awards
The Nandi Awards are annual awards presented by the Government of Andhra Pradesh to recognise excellence in Telugu cinema, theatre, and television, as well as lifetime achievements in Indian cinema. The awards are named after the monolithic ...
.
Plot
The story is set against the backdrop of Rayalaseema. The film opens with Veera Reddy returning from the US after a long gap with his wife and eight-year-old son, Aadi Kesava Reddy. Veera Reddy's deceased father was a well-known factionist in that area and owned a property of . While leaving for the US, Veera Reddy gave the responsibility of managing this land to Nagi Reddy. Now back in India, Veera Reddy realizes that Nagi Reddy is misusing his power. He wants to donate all his land to the 2000 families staying in that village. When Nagi Reddy learns of this charity giveaway, he attacks Veera Reddy, killing him and his wife. Veeranna, a trusted lieutenant of Veera Reddy, takes the child Aadi and escapes to Hyderabad. After the murders, Veera Reddy's trusted people are sentenced to fourteen years in prison.
Then the film titles roll, ending with the caption '12 years later'. The grown up Aadi is studying in college. He falls in love with Nandu and vice versa. Veeranna has raised Aadi in Hyderabad as a fun-loving boy, but he is also a hot-tempered young man. Later on, it is revealed that Nandu is Nagi Reddy's daughter. Completing her studies, Nandu returns to her hometown at her father's place. After a hiatus of 14 years, Aadi reenters the Rayalaseema along with other trusted members of his father, who are released from jail. Aadi wants to take revenge on Nagi Reddy and get back all the land so that he can distribute it to the villagers. The rest of the film deals with how Aadi achieves his objective. 1
Cast
*
N. T. Rama Rao Jr.
Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Jr. (born 20 May 1983), popularly known as NTR Jr, is an Indian actor, producer, and television presenter who primarily works in Telugu cinema. He is one of the highest-paid actors in Indian cinema and has been featur ...
as Aadi Kesava Reddy
*
Keerti Chawla as Nandu
*
Ahuti Prasad
Ahuti Prasad (born Adusumilli Janardhan Vara Prasad; 2 January 1958 – 4 January 2015) was an Indian actor who worked in Telugu film industry. He was renowned for the wide variety of roles he played, including father-figure, comedian, and ant ...
as Veera Reddy
*
Chalapathi Rao
Tammareddy Chalapathi Rao (8 May 1944 – 24 December 2022) was an Indian actor and producer known for comedy and villainous roles in Telugu cinema. He acted in different roles in more than 600 films.
Personal life and death
Rao hailed from B ...
as Veeranna “Babai”
*
Rajan P. Dev as Nagi Reddy
*
Ali
Ali ibn Abi Talib (; ) was the fourth Rashidun caliph who ruled from until his assassination in 661, as well as the first Shia Imam. He was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Born to Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib an ...
*
L. B. Sriram as College Principal
*
M.S. Narayana as Nagi Reddy's assistant
*
Rajiv Kanakala as Rajiv
*
Raghu Karumanchi
Raghu Karumanchi is an Indian actor who appears in Telugu films. He acted in more than 150 films. He also appeared in several television shows, including ''Jabardasth''.
Life
He was born and brought up in Hyderabad. His family hails from Te ...
as Simhadri
*
Venu Madhav
*
Chitram Seenu
Chitram Srinu is an Indian actor who primarily appears in Telugu films. Srinu made his debut through the film '' Chitram''. He has acted in over 260 films. He turned hero for the unreleased films ''Viswadhabhi Rama'' and ''Mayasabha''.
Origina ...
*
Raghu Babu
Yerra Raghu, known professionally as Raghu Babu, is a Telugu comedian. He has worked in many films in Telugu industry. He is the eldest son of comedian and character actor Giri Babu. His native place is Ravinuthala.
He is known for his ...
as Gangi Reddy
*
Fish Venkat
Fish Venkat (aka Venkat Raj) is an Indian actor who works in the Telugu film industry, playing mainly comedic and negative roles.
Career
Venkat was born in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. He strongly uses a Telangana dialect
A dialect is a ...
*
Karate Kalyani
*
Ramya Sri
B. Ramya Sri is an Indian actress, director, screenwriter, producer, dancer and model, known for her works in Telugu cinema, Kannada cinema, and Tamil cinema, few Malayalam, Hindi, Bhojpuri including softcore and B movies.https://www.thehansin ...
in a guest role
Production
When Vinayak was assisting director Sagar for the film ''Padutha Theeyaga'', producer
Bellamkonda Suresh
Bellamkonda Suresh is an Indian film producer in the Telugu film industry.
Biography
Bellamkonda Suresh is married to Bellamkonda Padmavathi and has two sons named Bellamkonda Sreenivas, Bellamkonda Sai Sreenivas and Bellamkonda Ganesh Babu. ...
used to observe him. He promised him that he would give Vinayak an opportunity to prove himself. After ''Paaduthaa Theeyaga'', he was not doing much as an assistant and thus started working on his own scripts. When Suresh offered to make a film with him, he was thrilled and narrated the story to
N. T. Rama Rao Jr.
Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Jr. (born 20 May 1983), popularly known as NTR Jr, is an Indian actor, producer, and television presenter who primarily works in Telugu cinema. He is one of the highest-paid actors in Indian cinema and has been featur ...
, who liked the subject. It was a love story, but prospective producer
Kodali Nani
Kodali Sri Venkateswara Rao (commonly known as Nani) is an Indian politician. He is a former member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly (MLA). He represented the Gudivada Assembly constituency, Gudivada assembly constituency from 2004 t ...
didn't like it.
After a couple of days, he narrated another story that was instantly liked and taken to the sets, and that was the story of ''Aadi''. They went to Mumbai to search for a heroine. They considered
Aarti Agarwal, but she had just signed on the dotted line for ''
Nuvvu Naaku Nachav''. They also considered
Ayesha Takia, but their cameraman felt that she wasn't the right choice for NTR. Seeing the
Fair & Lovely ad, Vinayak felt
Trisha would be an ideal choice, but his sister didn't like her. They dropped that idea, too, with a primary belief that if ladies didn't like much, then it will just not work out. While in Mumbai still, they also met
Sada also there, but she'd have been so lean beside NTR, they thought, and we dropped her too. The shooting was already in progress before the heroine was chosen.
Soundtrack
The music was composed by
Mani Sharma
Yanamandra Venkata Subrahmanyam (Telugu: యనమండ్ర వెంకట సుబ్రహ్మణ్యం; born 11 July 1964), professionally known as Mani Sharma, is an Indian composer and music producer known for his work primaril ...
and released by
Aditya Music
Aditya Music India Private Limited is an Indian music record label company, which owns the label Aditya Music. It produces music for the Telugu cinema industry and is headquartered at Hyderabad, Telangana.
Overview
The company was founded b ...
. The song “Chikki Chikki” was lifted from the
Turkish song
Şımarık
"Şımarık" (, "Spoiled"), also known as "Kiss Kiss", is a 1997 song by Turkish singer Tarkan. It was written by Sezen Aksu, with music credited as composed by Tarkan. However, Tarkan later admitted in a 2006 interview that this had been done wi ...
sung by
Tarkan
Tarkan may refer to:
People
* Tarkan (name), a given name (including a list of people with the name)
* Tarkan (singer) (born 1972), Turkish pop singer
Other uses
* Tarkhan, an ancient Turkic and Mongol nobility title
* Tarkan (comics), a fic ...
.
Reception
Gudipoodi Srihari
Gudipoodi Srihari (8 September 1934 – 5 July 2022) was a journalist who worked as a film and art critic for ''Eenadu'' and later ''The Hindu''.
Life and career
Gudipoodi Srihari did his Bachelor of Science at Andhra University and his mast ...
of ''
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...
'' wrote that "NTR Jr. is vociferous, forthright and displays good grasp of the subject. This film looks totally different from what he has played so far. Director Vinayak, being the story and screenplay writer himself, presents his subject with utmost care and balance". A critic from ''
Sify
Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology (ICT) company providing telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation integration services, and ...
'' wrote that "If you are looking for a masala entertainer, then go for it right away". Jeevi of ''
Idlebrain.com'' rated the film three-and-a-half out of five and called both halves of the film entertaining and added that "But the climax of the film is weakened with unnecessary extended fights. The story is a routine and predictable one. But it's purely the imagination of the director that saved viewers from getting disoriented". A critic from ''Full Hyderabad'' rated the film seven out of ten and wrote that "NTR Jr. deserves kudos for improving in the departments he was lagging behind in. Adding to his repertoire, he has managed to act well, apart from the dances and the fights that he executes impressively enough. Debutante director V V Vinayak has done well to portray the power feuds in Rayalaseema".
Box office
''Aadi'' ran for 50 days in 121 centers and 100 days in a record 96 direct centers.
Awards
;
Nandi Awards
The Nandi Awards are annual awards presented by the Government of Andhra Pradesh to recognise excellence in Telugu cinema, theatre, and television, as well as lifetime achievements in Indian cinema. The awards are named after the monolithic ...
[(in ]Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India
** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language.
* Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...
)
*
Best First Film of a Director -
V. V. Vinayak
*
Best Editor - Gowtham Raju
*
Special Jury Award -
Jr. NTR
Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Jr. (born 20 May 1983), popularly known as NTR Jr, is an Indian actor, producer, and television presenter who primarily works in Telugu cinema. He is one of the highest-paid actors in Indian cinema and has been featur ...
*
Best Lyricist -
Chandrabose
References
External links
*
{{V. V. Vinayak
2002 films
Telugu films remade in other languages
Indian action drama films
2000s Telugu-language films
2000s Indian films
Films directed by V. V. Vinayak
Films shot in Visakhapatnam
Films about feuds
2002 action drama films
Indian films about revenge
Films scored by Mani Sharma
Films about landlords
2002 directorial debut films