''Ranga Maarthanda'' ( ''The Sun of Theatre'') is a 2023 Indian

Telugu-language Telugu (; , ) is a Dravidian language native to the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where it is also the official language. Spoken by about 96 million people (2022), Telugu is the most widely spoken member of the Dravidian langua ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Krishna Vamsi Pasupuleti Venkata Bangarraju (born 28 July 1962), known professionally as Krishna Vamsi, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer known for his work in Telugu cinema. Over a career spanning three decades, he has received three Na ...

. It is a remake of the 2016

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

film ''

Natsamrat ''Natasamrat'' ( ''The King of Theater'' or ''The Emperor of Actors'') is a 2016 Indian cinema, Indian Marathi-language drama film starring Nana Patekar in the leading role. Based on a play of the same name written by playwright Kusumagraj, the ...

''. The film stars

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 ...

Ramya Krishna Ramya Krishnan (born 15 September 1970), also credited as Ramya Krishna, is an Indian actress predominantly known for her work in Telugu and Tamil films, along with appearances in Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi films. Early life Ramya was born ...

, and

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 ...

in the lead roles along with

Shivathmika Rajashekar Shivathmika Rajashekar is an Indian actress who appears primarily in Telugu and Tamil films. She is a recipient of the SIIMA Award for Best Female Debut for ''Dorasaani''. Early life Shivathmika Rajashekar was born on 22 April 2000, in Hyder ...

Rahul Sipligunj Rahul Sipligunj (born 22 August 1989) is an Indian playback singer and songwriter working predominantly in Telugu cinema. He became popular with his independent songs on YouTube. Career As independent artist He started his career with online ...

, Ali Reza,

Anasuya Bharadwaj Anasuya Bharadwaj (born 15 May 1985) is an Indian television presenter and actress who works in Telugu films and television. She is most notable for her performances in the films ''Kshanam'' (2016) and ''Rangasthalam'' (2018). Early life Anas ...

, and

Aadarsh Balakrishna Aadarsh Balakrishna is an Indian actor, primarily known for his negative roles in Telugu films. He is also the runner-up of Telugu reality TV show '' Bigg Boss 1''.Chowdhary, Y. Sunita (2010)Poised to Win, ''The Hindu'', 3 April 2010. Retriev ...

in supporting roles. The film is produced by Kalipu Madhu, S. Venkat Reddy under the banner of Rajashyamala Entertainments, Housefull Movies 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 film features music scored by

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, multi-instrumentalist, lyricist and playback singer popular for his works in Indian cinema, predominately in Tamil cinema, Tamil in addition ...

, with cinematography by Raj K Nalli, and editing by Pavan VK. The film released on 22 March 2023, opening to highly positive reviews praising the performances, proper adaptation of the remake, emotional weight, and direction, as well as noting it as a return to form for Krishna Vamsi.

Cast

as Raghava Rao, the king of drama theater *

as Raju Garu, Raghava Rao's wife *

as Chakrapani, Raghava Rao's best friend *

Jayalalita Jayalalita is an Indian character actor, who acted in about 650 films in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi. Early life Jayalalita was born in Gudivada, a town in Krishna district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. She completed her Bac ...

as Chakrapani’s wife *

as Bangaram, Raghava Rao's daughter and Rahul's wife *

as Rahul, Bangaram's husband *

as Geeta, Ranga Rao's wife *

as Ranga Rao, Raghava Rao's son and Geeta's husband * Ali Reza as Siddharth * Vamsi Chaganti * Prabhakar Podakandla * Satyanand *

Raj Madiraju Raj Madiraju is an Indian film director, screenwriter, actor and producer. In a career spanning about 20 years, he predominantly worked in Telugu cinema. In 2011 and 2012, he wrote and directed ''Rushi (film), Rushi'', for which he won the Nand ...

* Y. Kasi Viswanath *

Priyadarshini Ram Priyadarshini Ram is an Indian advertising executive, actor, and Telugu filmmaker. He won Nandi Special Jury Award for Manodu (2006) for his directorial making of the film. Early life Although Ram was born in Tenali, he was educated in Bh ...

Shanoor Sana Shanoor Sana Begum, known mononymously as Sana, is an Indian actress, television personality, and former model who primarily works in Telugu cinema. She has also appeared in a few Kannada cinema, Kannada and Tamil cinema, Tamil films. Known for ...

Venu Yeldandi Venu Yeldandi, is an Indian actor and director who works 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 languag ...

* Bhadram *Raja Pakurthi

Release

''Ranga Maarthanda'' was released in theaters on 22 March 2023. It was later made available for streaming on

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 ...

on 7 April 2023.

Reception

A critic from ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' wrote that "This emotionally stirring family drama may not have commercial elements, but even with its imperfections, the film will keep the audience hooked and has a universal recall. Actors Prakash Raj and Brahmanandam came up with performances of a lifetime. Watch it".

Accolades

Notes

References

External links

* {{Pasupuleti Krishna Vamsi 2023 drama films Indian drama films Films set in Hyderabad, India 2020s Telugu-language films 2023 films Telugu remakes of Marathi films Films directed by Krishna Vamsi Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja