''Salaam Venky'' () is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language

slice of life Slice of life is a depiction of mundane experiences in art and entertainment. In theater, slice of life refers to naturalism, while in literary parlance it is a narrative technique in which a seemingly arbitrary sequence of events in a characte ...

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. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Revathi Asha Kelunni Nair (born 8 July 1966), better known by her stage name Revathi, is an Indian actress and director, known for her works predominantly in Tamil & Malayalam cinema - in addition to Telugu, Hindi & Kannada films. She has won severa ...

. The film is produced by Suraj Singh and Shraddha Agrawal through their banners, Blive Productions and RTake Studios, respectively. Starring

Kajol Kajol Devgan (née Mukherjee; born 5 August 1974), known mononymously as Kajol, is an Indian actress. Described in the media as one of the most successful actresses of Hindi cinema, she is the recipient of numerous accolades, including six ...

and

Vishal Jethwa Vishal Jethwa (born 6 July 1994) is an Indian television and film actor. He is known for portraying Akbar on '' Bharat Ka Veer Putra – Maharana Pratap'' which aired on Sony TV, and Sunny in the Bollywood film '' Mardaani 2''. Early life Jeth ...

in the lead roles, the film is centered around a true story of a mother who does everything she can to let her son, diagnosed with

Duchenne muscular dystrophy Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a severe type of muscular dystrophy that primarily affects boys. Muscle weakness usually begins around the age of four, and worsens quickly. Muscle loss typically occurs first in the thighs and pelvis follo ...

, live life to the fullest. The film was announced on 7 October 2021 by Revathi and Kajol.

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 a ...

began on 11 February 2022, the first schedule took place in Mumbai. The film was theatrically released on 9 December 2022.

Cast

as Kolavennu Sujata *

as Kolavennu Venkatesh "Venky" *

Aahana Kumra Aahana Kumra is an Indian feature film, television, and theatre actress. Kumra is known for her small screen debut in Sony Entertainment Television's '' Yudh'' with Amitabh Bachchan and also for her lead role in the TV series '' Agent Raghav - ...

as TV Journalist *

Rahul Bose Rahul Bose (born 27 July 1967) is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter, and social activist. Bose has appeared in Bengali films such as '' Mr. and Mrs. Iyer'', ''Kalpurush'', '' Anuranan'', '' Antaheen'', '' Laptop'' and '' The Japanese Wif ...

as Lawyer Parvez *

Rajeev Khandelwal Rajeev Khandelwal (born 16 October 1975) is an Indian film and television actor, singer and host. He started his career directing the television series ''Filmy Chakkar''. His break as an actor was as the lead in the television drama, ''Kahiin ...

as Dr. Shekhar *

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 Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam-language films, he is the recipient of severa ...

as Judge *

Anant Mahadevan Anant Mahadevan (born 28 August 1950), also credited as Ananth Narayan Mahadevan, is an Indian screenwriter, actor, and film director of Malayalam, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil films and television shows. Having been an integral part of the Indian t ...

as Guruji *

Priyamani Priya Vasudev Mani Iyer (born 4 June 1984), known by her professional name Priyamani, is an Indian actress and former model, who works in the South Indian film industry. She is a recipient of Several Awards. Priyamani made her acting debut ...

as Nanda, the Public Prosecutor *

Kamal Sadanah Kamal Sadanah (born 21 October 1970) is an Indian actor, producer and director. He is the son of producer and director Brij Sadanah. Career Kamal made his acting debut alongside Kajol in the 1992 film ''Bekhudi'' which did not perform well at ...

Maala Parvathi Parvathi T., also known as Maala Parvathi, is an Indian actress, who appears in Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu films Personal life Parvathi was born in Thiruvananthapuram, to Adv C. V. Thrivikraman and gynaecologist Dr K. Lalitha. She complete ...

* Ridhi Kumar as Sharda * Aneet Padda as Nandini (Debut role) *

as Judge's wife *

Aamir Khan Mohammed Aamir Hussain Khan (; born 14 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director and producer who works in Hindi films. Through his career spanning over 30 years, Khan has established himself as one of the most notable actors of Indian ci ...

in a guest appearance

Sources

The film is based on the book ''The Last Hurrah'' by Shrikanth Murthy which is based on the real life events of Kolavennu Venkatesh and his mother K. Sujata.

Production

The film was announced in October 2021, tentatively titled ''The Last Hurrah''. The announcement consisted of a picture of the lead and the director. Later however, the name was changed to ''Salaam Venky'' when the shooting commenced. The main parts of the film were shot from February–April 2022 in India, the remaining parts were shot later on in the year including

's cameo. Filming wrapped up on 3 October 2022.

Soundtrack

The music of the film is composed by

Mithoon Mithun Sharma (born 11 January 1985), also known as Mithoon, is an Indian Hindi film music director, lyricist-composer and singer. Mithoon composed the Hindi song " Tum Hi Ho" from the 2013 Bollywood romantic film '' Aashiqui 2''. Mithoon re ...

. Lyrics are penned by Mithoon, Sandeep Shrivastava and

Kausar Munir Kausar Munir is an Indian lyricist and screen writer in Bollywood. Biography Munir was born and brought up in Bandra, Mumbai. She graduated in English Literature from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. Munir married actor Nirmal Pandey in 1997 bu ...

Release

Salaam Venky was released on 9 December 2022 in cinemas. The digital and satellite rights are held by

Zee5 ZEE5 is an Indian subscription video on-demand and over-the-top streaming service, run by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It was launched in India on 14 February 2018 with content in 12 languages. The ZEE5 mobile app is available on Web, Andr ...

and

Zee Cinema Zee Entertainment Enterprises (formerly Zee Telefilms) is an Indian media conglomerate owned by Essel Group. Headquartered in Mumbai, it has interests in television, print, internet, film, businesses related to mobile contents, and operates 4 ...

, respectively.

Reception

Dhaval Roy of ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, 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, t ...

'' rated the film 4 out of 5 stars and wrote "The heart-touching fare, replete with positivity as much as pain, is a must-watch".

References

External links

*
Salaam Venky
at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

* {{Bollywood Hungama movie, salaam-venky Films about women in India Indian films based on actual events Hindi-language films based on actual events 2020s Hindi-language films Films directed by Revathi Indian biographical drama films 2022 films 2022 drama films Films scored by Mithoon Films based on books Films about disability in India