Julai

''Julayi'' () is a 2012 Indian Telugu-language action comedy film written & directed by Trivikram Srinivas and produced by S. Radha Krishna under Haarika & Hassine Creations banner. The film stars Allu Arjun and Sonu Sood, alongside Ileana D'Cruz, Rajendra Prasad, Rao Ramesh, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Brahmaji, Tanikella Bharani and Sheetal Menon. The music was composed by Devi Sri Prasad, while cinematography and editing were handled by Chota K. Naidu- Shyam K. Naidu and Prawin Pudi.

''Julayi'' was released worldwide on 8 August 2012 to positive reviews from critics and became commercially successful. The film has garnered the Nandi Award for Best Popular Feature Film. It was remade into Tamil as ''Saagasam''.

Plot

Bittu, a master-robber, and MLA Varadarajulu plan to rob from a bank. Ravindra "Ravi" Narayan believes in earning quick money rather than toiling like his father Narayana Moorthy. During a chance meeting with Bittu, Ravi reveals his intention of making quick money by betting on an IPL match and discloses the location of the betting ring. However, the police raid the location and Ravi is apprehended. During interrogation, Ravi deduces that Bittu has tipped off the cops to commit a crime and convinces ACP Raja Manikyam. Bittu successfully robs the bank, where his brother Lala takes the money to the city's dumping yard.

However, the police catch Lala, who resists them and is subdued by Ravi, causing Lala to get killed accidentally, resulting in his death. Meanwhile, Bittu goes to the dumping yard to collect the money, but is shocked as the dumping yard is burnt to ashes. Having Lala dead and the money burnt, Bittu swears to kill Ravi. Manikyam sends Ravi to Hyderabad from Visakhapatnam under witness protection and makes him stay at his friend DIG Sitaram's house. One day, Ravi happens to see Madhu, a middle-class girl who works with ''Travel'' Murthy, a travel agent and Bittu's associate. Murthy prepares fake passports for Bittu and his gang to help them escape from India. Ravi befriends Madhu, where they both fall in love with each other and also find out about Bittu.

Bittu kills Raja Manikyam by planting a bomb in his car and also attacks Ravi's family, where Narayana gets hospitalized, which makes Ravi realize his mistakes. Narayana recovers and asks Ravi to retrieve the money for the people, who toiled day and night for their family. Ravi finds that his sister Raji is kidnapped and also framed for Raja Manikyam's murder when he unknowingly picked up a call which is a phone bomb activated in the car, but Ravi is released with the help of DIG Sitaram. Ravi finds that Raja Manikyam had faked his death as Bittu learned about Raja Manikyam and Varadarajulu's plan of exchanged the money in the dumping yard into fake currencies. They had burnt by currencies to let Bittu assume that Ravi burnt the money.

Bittu kills Raja Manikyam and Varadarajulu and plans to escape from the country by having the money stored in a container and transporting it to a good's ship. Ravi, having deduced Bittu's plan, fools the henchman and makes them return the money to the bank. The henchman gets killed by the mob, who were protesting at the bank. A showdown occurs between Ravi and Bittu, where Ravi kills Bittu with Sitaram's help and also saves Raji. In the end, Ravi attends an interview and gets selected for the job, in which he earns .

Cast

* Allu Arjun as Ravindra Narayan "Ravi"
* Ileana D'Cruz as Madhu, Ravi's love interest (voice dubbed by Haritha)
* Sonu Sood as Bittu (voice dubbed by P. Ravi Shankar)
* Rajendra Prasad as DIG Sitaram IPS
* Kota Srinivasa Rao as MLA Varadarajulu
* Rao Ramesh as ADGP Raja Manikyam IPS
* Tanikella Bharani as Narayana Murthy, Ravi's father
* Sheetal Menon as Devayani, Bittu's deaf-mute girlfriend
* Shafi as Lala, Bittu's brother
* M. S. Narayana as SI Valmiki
* Brahmanandam as "Pickpocket" Bhramam, Sitaram's servant
* Brahmaji as "Travel" Murthy, Madhu's boss
* Dharmavarapu Subramanyam as Madhu's father
* Tulasi as Kameswari, Ravi's mother
* Hema as Sujata, Madhu's step-mother
* Pragathi as Lalita, Sitaram's wife
* Sreemukhi as Raji, Ravi's sister
* Ravi Prakash as Dhanushkoti, Bittu's trusted aid
* Pradeep Machiraju as Ravi's friend working in FM studio
* Saptagiri as Giri, Ravi's friend
* Amit Tiwari as Bittu's henchman
* Vamsi Krishna as Bittu's henchman
* Posani Krishna Murali as a club owner
* Gautam Raju as a police constable
* Sivannarayana Naripeddi as a tea seller
* Kalpika Ganesh as Neha, Sitram's elder daughter
* Shravan as Sattar
* Ananth Prabhu as SI Prabhu
* Vennela Kishore as a deaf customer in cafe
* Raghu Babu as customer in a bar
* Ananth Babu as a priest
* Ali as a bus passenger
* Dhanraj as a patient in a hospital
* Rajitha as Ravi's neighbor
* Sunny as a thief
* Vajja Venkata Giridhar as a bike guy
* Udaya Bhanu in the song "Julayi"
* Raju Sundaram cameo appearance in the song "Osey Osey"
* Prakash Raj (voiceover)

Production

Development

In 2010 after his film ''Khaleja'' was released, many reports suggested that Trivikram Srinivas would work with Venkatesh for his next film. It was reported that the film would start filming in early 2011, but for unknown reasons, the project was unable to take off. In March 2011, reports suggested that Trivikram Srinivas had approached Allu Arjun for a film and that Allu Arjun has accepted the offer. It was reported that DVV Danayya would produce the film under Universal Media banner. DVV Danayya previously made the successful film '' Desamuduru'' with Allu Arjun. It was also reported that Ileana D'Cruz was cast as the female lead and the filming would begin in May 2011. Although there were several reports on when the filming would begin, all proved untrue. In August 2011, it was reported that Allu Arjun has injured his shoulder and went to Australia for surgery on Trivikram's request. This caused the project to be further delayed. In September 2011, an official statement was released by the producers stating that as Allu Arjun was in Australia for shoulder surgery, the filming would start in late October 2011. It was also announced that the film is being produced by S. Radha Krishna under Haarika & Hassine Creations banner and with DVV Danayya presenting the film. It was also announced that Devi Sri Prasad who had previously worked with Allu Arjun and Trivikram Srinivas would score the music. It was reported that Allu Arjun, as well as Trivikram, had slashed their remuneration for the film in a bid to bring the production cost down. On 2 November 2011 after months of getting delayed, the film was officially launched. It was announced that Ileana D'Cruz was cast as the female lead and the other cast and crew was also announced. On 14 November 2011, filming began in Hyderabad. Although there were many reports that the film was titled as ''Honey'', the director dismissed the reports saying that no decision was taken. In March 2012, it was announced that the film was titled as ''Julayi''.

Casting

It was announced in September 2011 that Rajendra Prasad was cast for a vital role in the film. It was later reported that Rajendra Prasad would be playing the role of a cop in the film. at first Trivikram wanted to cast Sudeep as a villain, but due to Sudeep's busy schedule, Trivikram later cast Sonu Sood as the antagonist in the film. The other cast includes popular Telugu actors like Kota Srinivasa Rao, Brahmanandam, Tanikella Bharani, M. S. Narayana, Dharmavarapu Subramanyam, Brahmaji and Rao Ramesh. It was reported that Mahesh Babu would provide voice over for the film similar to Trivikram's ''Jalsa'', but it proved to be untrue. It was reported that Udaya Bhanu would feature in an item number.

Filming

After months of delay, filming began in Hyderabad on 14 November 2011. The scenes between Brahmanandam and Ileana at a hospital in Kukatpally were canned during the first schedule of filming. The second schedule of filming began on 13 December 2011. Filming took place at Ramoji Film City and Sivarla in Hyderabad. In January 2012, action scenes in shivering cold weather were canned at RFC under the supervision of Peter Hein. In February 2012, bank robbery scenes were shot on Allu Arjun and Sonu Sood in Hyderabad. Also in February 2012, more action scenes on Allu Arjun were canned at Chennai Port under Peter Hein's supervision. In March 2012, filming took place in Visakhapatnam, Andhra pradesh. On 6 April 2012, it was reported that filming of the entire talkie part has been completed and four songs are yet to be canned. On 20 April 2012 it was reported that the production unit would be travelling to Dubai on 26 April 2012 to film two songs on the lead pair and the remaining two songs would be shot in India. On 9 June 2012 fire broke out in a special Irani Hotel set, that was erected for the film in Ramoji Film City. Allu Arjun and Brahmaji suffered minor injuries in this accident.

Music

The soundtrack album was composed by Devi Sri Prasad. The audio of the film was released on 6 July 2012 through Aditya Music and the lyrics for three songs were written by Srimani, two songs by Ramajogayya Sastry and one song by Devi Sri Prasad. The audio launch event took place at the Hitex Exhibition center in Madhapur on the same day. The audio was a huge success with receiving a positive reception from critics and audience. ''Musicperk.com'', a famous music site, marked ''Julai'' as one of the top 10 albums in 2012 rating it 9/10.

Release

Pre-release business

In February 2012, it was announced that Telugu film director and producer Dasari Narayana Rao has bought the Andhra Pradesh distribution rights of the film for an amount of . It was also reported that Dasari Narayana Rao will release the film under Siri Media. It was reported that it was the highest amount ever paid for an Allu Arjun film. It was reported in April 2012 that Ficus had acquired the overseas theatrical distribution rights of the film excluding Singapore and Malaysia. In July 2012, it was reported that the satellite rights were sold for to Star Maa. Kerala distribution rights were sold for which is a record in terms of Telugu and Tamil films.

Theatrical

The film was released worldwide on over 1600 screens on 8 August 2012. It is the biggest release of Allu Arjun's career ''Gajapokkiri'', the Malayalam dubbed version of the film was released on 17 August 2012. The film was also dubbed and released in Hindi as ''Dangerous Khiladi'' in 2013.

Reception

Box office

''Julayi'' collected nett at AP box office on its first day. The film collected nett at AP box office on its first week. ''Julayi'' collected nett share in rest of India and overseas on its first week and nett at overseas in eight day, extended first week.

''Julayi'' opened very well overseas and collected more than $1 million. In USA, the film collected more than $600,000 including premiere shows in its first weekend. Taran Adarsh of ''Bollywood Hungama'' reported that ''Julayi'' has collected over $569,436 (Rs. 3.15 crore) over the weekend in US with the per screen average for the film being around $12,379.

With ''Julayi'', Allu Arjun became the fourth Telugu actor whose film collected a distributor share at the box office. The film has completed 50 days on 27 September 2012. ''Julayi'' got pre-release revenue's up to making table profits to the producer.

Critical response

''Julayi'' received positive reviews from critics.

Riya Chakravarty of ''NDTV'' wrote, "Overall, the movie caters to all ages. Watch the movie for its witty dialogues and energetic performances." Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of ''The Hindu'' described the film as "high on energy and wit" and commented that "''Julayi'' has all the staple ingredients that characterise a Telugu masala entertainer" and concluded that "brain matches brawn in this masala entertainer."

Karthik Pasupulate of ''The Times of India'' gave 3/5 stars and wrote "The movie has enough in it for Allu Arjun fans to dig into it, the others might not find it as amusing." Pavithra Srinivasan of ''Rediff'' criticised the film and felt it to be a "no brainer which loses steam because of the glaring lack of logic" and "gaping plot-holes." She lauded Allu Arjun for "carrying the film on his capable shoulders, hurling punches (both verbal and physical), bashing up goons and going gaga for his girl." ''CNN-IBN'' declared it as "lackluster" and noted that the film was "more amusing than intelligent". It also felt that the film is "far from being either a romance/laugh riot."

Accolades

References

External links

*

{{Nandi Award for Best Popular Feature Film

2012 films
2010s Telugu-language films
2012 action comedy films
2010s chase films
Indian action comedy films
Indian chase films
Telugu films remade in other languages
Films about witness protection
Films directed by Trivikram Srinivas
Films with screenplays by Trivikram Srinivas
Films scored by Devi Sri Prasad
2012 masala films
Sign-language films
Films shot in Visakhapatnam
2012 comedy films