''Double iSmart'' is a 2024 Indian Telugu-language

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

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 ...

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 ...

, who co-produced with

Charmy Kaur Charmy Kaur, also spelt as Charmme or Charmi (born 17 May 1987), is an Indian film producer and former actress. She is well known for her works predominantly in Telugu cinema, as well as few Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi films. Her most ...

under Puri Connects. It is the

spiritual sequel A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous product or work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue th ...

to '' iSmart Shankar''. The film stars Ram Pothineni, alongside

Sanjay Dutt Sanjay Balraj Dutt (born 29 July 1959) is an Indian actor, playback singer and film producer who works in Hindi cinema in addition to a few Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Punjabi films. Dutt has won several accolades and acted in over 160 films. ...

(in his Telugu debut),

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 ...

, Kavya Thapar,

Sayaji Shinde Sayaji Shinde (Marathi pronunciation: əjaːd͡ʒiː ʃin̪d̪eː born 13 January 1959) is an Indian actor who has acted in Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, English, Gujarati, Hindi, and Bhojpuri films. Sayaji started his act ...

and Bani J. 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 ...

, while cinematography and editing were handled by Gianni Giannelli & Shyam K. Naidu and

Karthika Srinivas Karthika Srinivas R is an Indian film editor who predominantly works in Telugu films. He is best known for his works in the films '' Swamy Ra Ra'' (2013), '' 1: Nenokkadine'' (2014), ''Karthikeya'' (2014), '' Antariksham 9000 KMPH'' (2018) a ...

. ''Double iSmart'' was theatrically released on 15 August 2024, coinciding with

Indian Independence Day Independence Day is celebrated annually on 15 August as a public holiday in India commemorating the nation's independence from the United Kingdom on 15 August 1947. On this day the Indian Independence Act 1947 came into effect, transferri ...

. The film received negative reviews from critics and eventually became a

box-office bomb A box-office bomb is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the combined production budget, marketing, and distribution costs exceed the revenue after release has te ...

Plot

Big Bull, a notorious assassin, wants to achieve immortality and decides to transfer his memories to "iSmart" Shankar, who already has another's person's memories transferred to him, thus setting the stage for the intense confrontation between Shankar and Big Bull.

Cast

Adapted from the opening credits:

Production

''Double iSmart'' was officially announced on 14 May 2023 by Ram Pothineni and

joined the cast as the main antagonist, making his debut in

Telugu cinema Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Cinema of India, Indian cinema dedicated to the production of Film, motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Based in Film N ...

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

commenced on 12 July 2023, after a grand launch in

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

. The first schedule wrapped on 31 July 2023, featuring an action sequence filmed in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. The second schedule commenced in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

in August 2023. Some sequences of the film were shot in Mumbai in May 2024, following which the production faced delays due to financial constraints though later resolved. The climax of the film was shot in Mumbai, where a large set worth ₹8 crore was made. The principal photography was wrapped on 5 July.

Soundtrack

The

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

album and

background score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

for the film were composed by

. The audio rights were acquired 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 first single titled "SteppaMaar" was released on 1 July 2024. The second single titled "Maar Muntha Chod Chinta" was released on 16 July 2024. The third single titled "Kya Lafda" was released on 29 July 2024. The fourth single titled "Big Bull" was released on 8 August 2024. The fifth single titled "Mother Song" was released on 17 August 2024.

Release

Theatrical

The film was initially set to release on 8 March 2024 (

Maha Shivaratri Maha Shivaratri is a Hindu festival celebrated annually to worship the deity Shiva, between February and March. According to the Hindu calendar, the festival is observed on the fourteenth day of the first half (night start with darkness - ...

), but was later postponed to 15 August 2024 coinciding with

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

. The film received an A (adults only) certification from the

Central Board of Film Certification The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory Motion picture content rating system, film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of ...

on the account of violence and strong language.

Distribution

The distribution rights of the film were acquired by Primeshow Entertainment and

Mythri Movie Makers Mythri Movie Makers is an Indian film production and distribution company established by Naveen Yerneni, Yalamanchili Ravi Shankar, and Mohan Cherukuri (CVM) in 2015. The production company mainly produces and distributes in Telugu films. Not ...

. The distribution rights were acquired to Sakthi Film Factory in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

Home media

The digital streaming rights to the film were acquired by

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

for 33 crore. The satellite rights were sold by

Zee Telugu Zee Telugu is an Indian Telugu-language general entertainment pay television channel in India. It was launched on 12 September 2004 as '' Alpha TV Telugu''. and was rebranded as ''Zee Telugu'' on 18 May 2005. The channel is owned by Zee Entert ...

and Zee Cinemalu respectively. The film was premiered on Amazon Prime Video from 5 September 2024.

Reception

BVS Prakash of ''

Deccan Chronicle ''Deccan Chronicle'' is an English-language daily newspaper based in Hyderabad, India. Founded in 1938, it was initially launched as a Weekly newspaper, weekly and later converted into a daily. The newspaper's name reflects its origins in the ...

'' gave 2/5 stars and wrote "After a flop like ''

Liger The liger is a hybrid (biology), hybrid offspring of a male lion (''Panthera leo'') and a tigress, or female tiger (''Panthera tigris''). The liger has parents in the same genus but of different species. The liger is distinct from the opposite ...

'', noted director Puri Jagannadh returns with ''Double iSmart'', but the sci-fi plot he has chosen is not exciting enough." Sashidhar Adivi of ''

Times Now Times Now is an English-language news channel in India owned and operated by The Times Group. The channel launched on 23 January 2006 in partnership with Reuters. It is a pay television throughout India. Until 2016, it was India's most popula ...

'' gave 2/5 stars and wrote "Double iSmart is a tedious affair!." Sowmya Rajendran of ''

The News Minute ''The News Minute'' is an Indian digital news platform based in Bangalore, Karnataka. It was founded by Vignesh Vellore who is also the current CEO in 2014. Apart from Karnataka, it also has bureaus in the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, ...

'' gave 1/5 stars and wrote "Puri fries our brain with double the torture." In a negative review, Neeshita Nyayapati of ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...

'' wrote "Puri Jagannadh focuses so much on making his protagonist likeable that this time around, he forgets to focus on a coherent story."

References

External links

* {{Puri Jagannadh 2024 films Indian action drama films 2020s Telugu-language films Indian science fiction action films Films directed by Puri Jagannadh Fiction about memory Films shot in Hyderabad, India Films shot in Mumbai Films shot in Thailand Indian films about revenge Indian vigilante films 2024 science fiction action films 2024 science fiction films Indian science fiction films