''Gudumba Shankar'' is a 2004 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 comedy film The action comedy is a film genre that applies to action films where humor plays a much more central role. While early films feature stuntwork and humor, academic Cynthia King wrote that the genre only came into its own as a mainstay of the Americ ...

directed by Veera Shankar and produced by

Nagendra Babu Konidela Nagendra Rao (born 29 October 1961), popularly known as Nagendra Babu and Naga Babu, is an Indian actor, producer, and politician who works in Telugu cinema. He has received one National Film Award and two Nandi Awards for his work as ...

under Anjana Productions banner.

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 ...

plays the

title role The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piëce. The title o ...

, wrote the screenplay, and choreographed three songs and the action scenes. The film also stars

Meera Jasmine Jasmine Mary Joseph,
, rediff.com; 1 August 2004. known professionally as Meera Jasmine, is an Indian ac ...

and

Ashish Vidyarthi Ashish Vidyarthi (born 19 June 1965) is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, English, Odia, Marathi and Bengali films. He is noted for his antagonist and character roles. In 1995, he receive ...

while

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 ...

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 ...

, and

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 ...

play supporting roles. The music was scored 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 ...

with cinematography by Chota K. Naidu.

Plot

Gudumba Shankar is a small-time thief who makes a living by arresting people. On his way to Mumbai, he accidentally meets Gowri. Both of them are forced to travel together. A few more incidents make them good friends. Shankar realizes that Gowri is a girl who ran away from her house. By then, they start having feelings for each other. A rowdy named Kumaraswamy wants to marry Gowri forcibly, as her astrology is auspicious for him, and this is why she runs away from her home. Soon, Kumarasamy takes Gowri back to the house. Kumaraswamy is extremely superstitious and heavily depends on the astrology of Parabrahma Swamy. Shankar blackmails Parabrahma (to disclose his illicit affair) and joins the wedding house as the wedding planner along with Paidiraju and two other buddies. Shankar later tricks Kumaraswamy into thinking that Gowri is inauspicious to him and that if he marries her he will be destroyed. He plans elaborate tricks by burning or hurting someone wherever Gowri is involved. After Kumaraswamy leaves, Shankar marries Gowri, but Kumaraswamy comes and beats up Shankar and kidnaps Gowri. Shankar miraculously wakes up, beats up everyone, and takes Gowri back.

Cast

Production

In March 2004, ''Idlebrain'' reported that the title ''Gudumba Shankar'' was confirmed for Pawan Kalyan's film directed by Veera Shankar. At that time, 50% of the shooting was completed and the film was scheduled for release in July 2004.

Music

The film has six songs composed by

. Aditya Music acquired the audio rights.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews and was a below average performer at the box office but managed to entertain audiences, largely due to Kalyan's popularity. Pawan Kalyan's choreography of the realistic action scenes was praised. His unique style, including wearing double pants, was a major trendsetter at the time. ''

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 ...

'' rated the film 3/5 and called it "disappointing." The reviewer wrote, "You desperately want to like the film for the maddeningly zany characters played out by Pawan, Meera, Ali, Brahmanandam and others. Alas but nobody can improve on this script full of scenes, inspired from half a dozen Hollywood and Bollywood films of yesteryears!" Griddaluru Goplarao of ''

Zamin Ryot ''Zamin Ryot'' is an Indian Telugu-language weekly newspaper published from Nellore. It was started by N. Venkatrama Naidu in . It has been called the longest continuously running Telugu newspaper. It is one of the notable district newspapers ...

'' also criticized the weak storyline and screenplay.

Re-release

''Gudumba Shankar'' was re-released after 19 years. The initial date was fixed as August 31, 2023. Then it got postponed and was re-released on September 2, on

's birthday, marked as one of the highest grosser amongst the recent re-releases.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0354965, Gudumba Shankar 2004 films 2000s Telugu-language films Films scored by Mani Sharma Indian action comedy films 2004 action comedy films Films about astrology