''Badri'' is a 2000 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 romantic

action film 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 ...

written and directed by

Puri Jagannadh Petla "Puri" Jagannadh (born 28 September 1966) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer, who works primarily in the Telugu film Industry. He made his directorial debut in 2000 with the Telugu film '' Badri'' starring Pawan Kaly ...

in his directorial debut. The film stars

Pawan Kalyan Konidela Pawan Kalyan (born Konidela Kalyan Kumar; 2 September 1971) is an Indian politician, actor, philanthropist, and martial artist serving as the List of deputy chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, 11th Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Prade ...

Amisha Patel Ameesha Patel (; born 9 June 1975) is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi and Telugu films. Patel is the recipient of several awards such as a Filmfare Award and a Zee Cine Award. Patel made her acting debut in 2000 with the romantic ...

, Renu Desai and

Prakash Raj Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Telugu language, Telugu, Tamil language, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, English language, Engl ...

. This film marks the South Indian debut of Amisha Patel. The film's music was composed by

Ramana Gogula Ramana Gogula is an Indo-American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, music composer and singer of film music and Indian pop. His notable film compositions include '' Premante Idera'' (1998), '' Thammudu'' (1999), '' Badri'' (2000)'', Johnny'' ( ...

, which marks his second collaboration with Pawan Kalyan after ''

Thammudu ''Thammudu'' () is a 1999 Indian Telugu-language sports action film written and directed by P. A. Arun Prasad. The films stars Pawan Kalyan, Preeti Jhangiani, and Aditi Govitrikar. Bhupinder Singh, Achyuth, Brahmanandam, Ali, and Kitty pla ...

'' (1999). The film became a Super Hit at the box office and made Pawan Kalyan a star. The film's dialogues and songs were huge hits with the youth. The dialogue “Nuvvu Nanda aithe nenu Badri Badrinath” and songs like “Ye Chikitha” and “Bangala Kathamlo” continued to be popular even after two decades. Puri Jagannadh later remade it in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

as '' Shart: The Challenge'' (2004).

Plot

Badri is an

ad agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generally ...

director who is challenged by his fiancé Vennela that no other girl on earth would probably love him more than Vennela does. Badri takes up the challenge immediately, where Vennela shows a beautiful girl named Sarayu and asks him to approach her. After a few meetings, Sarayu falls for Badri. However, Sarayu's brother Nanda, who is excessively fond and protective of Sarayu, wants to finish Badri since he knows that Badri and Vennela are destined for marriage. Everything goes well for Badri because he realizes his love for Sarayu and reunites with her after Vennela and Nanda's approval.

Cast

as Badrinadh "Badri" *

as Sarayu, Nanda's younger sister and Badri's love interest * Renu Desai as Vennela, Badri's fiancée *

as Nanda Kishore "Nanda", Sarayu's elder brother *

Kota Srinivasa Rao Kota Srinivasa Rao (born 10 July 1942) is an Indian character actor known for his work primarily in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He has also starred in a few films in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hindi cinema, Hindi, Kannada cinema, Kannada and Ma ...

as Badri's father *

Brahmanandam Kanneganti Brahmanandam (born 1 February 1956) is an Indian actor and comedian known for his work in Telugu cinema. Recognised as one of India's finest and highest-paid comic actors, he holds the Guinness World Record for the most screen cred ...

as Gangaraju *

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 ...

Kaushal Manda Kaushal Prasad Manda is an Indian actor and model who predominantly works in Telugu language films and TV serials. Career Manda made his debut as a child artist in 1982–1983 with Telugu TV serial Evanni Chedanunchu. Then he participated i ...

* Mallikarjuna Rao as Manikantha *

M. S. Narayana M. S. Narayana (16 April 1951 – 23 January 2015) was an Indian actor and comedian who worked in Telugu cinema. Narayana worked in over 750 films in his career spanning 23 years. He died on 23 January 2015 due to organ failure in Hyderabad, Ind ...

as Chandra Mouli "C. M." *

Sangeetha Sangeeta may refer to: Song and music * Sangita or Sangeeta, music-related performance arts in the ancient and medieval era Indian texts * '' Sangita Makarandha'', an ancient work on Indian classical music Sangeet Sangeeta *Sangeeta Bijlani ( ...

as Badri's mother *

Rama Prabha Rama Prabha is an Indian actress who performs in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi films. She has acted in more than 1,400 films and is credited as a character artist who shared screen space with superstars across most generations of South Indian Cin ...

as Vennela's grandmother *

Uttej Uttej is an Indian actor and screenwriter who works in Telugu films. He won the Nandi Award for Best Male Comedian for the film ''Chandamama'' (2007). Personal life Uttej was born and brought up in Nalgonda district. He is the nephew of no ...

Narsing Yadav Narsing Yadav (15 May 1963 – 31 December 2020) was an Indian actor known for his comic villain roles. He acted in more than 300 films predominantly in Telugu, in addition to Tamil, Hindi and Kannada languages. He debuted as a small character ...

Ironleg Sastri Gunupudi Viswanatha Sastri, better known by his screen name Ironleg Sastri, was an Indian comedian who appeared in over 150 Telugu films. Originally working as a priest for movie inaugural functions, he gained recognition when E. V. V. Satyan ...

Tirupathi Prakash Timmapuram Karanam Ravi Prakash Rao, popularly known as Tirupathi Prakash, is an Indian actor in Telugu cinema. Tirupathi Prakash started his career in the television and film industry as comedy artist and supporting artist. He has acted in m ...

Production

Pawan Kalyan, already a successful actor with hits like ''

Suswagatham ''Suswagatham'' () is a 1998 Indian Telugu-language romance film produced by R. B. Choudary under the Super Good Films banner, directed by Bhimaneni Srinivasa Rao. It stars Pawan Kalyan and Devayani (in her Telugu debut), with music compose ...

'' (1998), ''Tholi Prema'' (1998), and ''

'' (1999), took a risk by working with new director

for ''Badri''. The film was produced by T. Trivikram Rao, with its muhurtham shot being given a clap by

Chiranjeevi Konidela Chiranjeevi (born Konidela Sivasankara Varaprasad; 22 August 1955) is an Indian actor, philanthropist and former politician known for his work in Telugu cinema. Known as the "Mega Star", he is widely regarded as one of the most succe ...

. The film employed a unique approach with its title cards, placing the names of the heroines first, followed by

, and then

, surprising the industry.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

and it was released on

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 "Ye

Chiquita Chiquita Brands International S.à.r.l. (), formerly known as United Fruit Co., is a Swiss company producing and distributing bananas and other produce. The company operates under subsidiary brand names, including the flagship Chiquita bran ...

" became one of the top songs almost for a year.

Reception

''Badri'' initially received an indifferent response on its release day, but quickly turned into a blockbuster, helping to establish Puri Jagannadh as a director in Tollywood. The film went on to become a huge success, earning over ₹18

crore Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the India ...

as distributor share.

Legacy

The film became a blockbuster at the box office and its dialogues and songs were huge hits with the youth. The dialogue "Nuvvu Nanda aithe nenu Badri Badrinath" and songs like "Ye Chikitha" and "Bangala Kathamlo" continued to be popular even after two decades. ''Badri'' played a crucial role in expanding Pawan Kalyan's appeal from class audiences, who admired his earlier hits like ''

'', ''Tholi Prema'', and ''

'', to a broader mass audience. The film, especially the intense scenes between Pawan Kalyan and Prakash Raj, remains a significant highlight in Pawan's career and continues to resonate in discussions about mass cinema.

References

External links

*
''Sify'' review
{{Authority control 2000 films Films directed by Puri Jagannadh Telugu films remade in other languages 1990s Telugu-language films Indian romantic comedy films 2000 directorial debut films 2000 romantic comedy films