Loukyam


Loukyam is a 2014 Indian Telugu-language action comedy film written by Sridhar Seepana and directed by Sriwass which features Gopichand and Rakul Preet Singh in the lead roles along with Brahmanandam, Mukesh Rishi, Sampath Raj, Chandra Mohan, Rahul Dev, Pragathi, Posani Krishna Murali, Prudhvi Raj and Bharath Reddy in the supporting roles. It is produced by V. Anand Prasad on Bhavya Creations banner. Kona Venkat and Gopimohan provided the screenplay. Vetri is the cinematographer, S. R. Sekhar is the editor and Anup Rubens is the music director for the film. It was launched formally on 11 April 2014 at Film Nagar in Hyderabad. The film released worldwide on 26 September 2014. The film was successful at the box-office, spurring remakes in Bengali, Kannada and Tamil. The film was later dubbed in Hindi as Ek Khiladi in 2015 by Goldmines Telefilms.

Plot

Loukyam opens with Venky kidnapping the sister of Babji, as she is marrying Bharath although she is in love with someone else. He goes to Hyderabad and waits for everything in his home, Warangal to clear. He stays with his friend, Shyamala. There he falls for Chandrakala, the sister of Sathya, a don in Hyderabad. Chandrakala rags other students in the college using her brother's power. After her initial rejection, Venky gets her to reciprocate his feelings. Meanwhile, Babji comes to Hyderabad in order to reach Sippy, the driver who helped Venky kidnap Babji's sister. Babji, unaware of the fact that he is traveling in Sippy's taxi, goes around Hyderabad with Boiling star Bablu, a rising Television star.
Meanwhile, Keshava Reddy, a politician is behind Chandrakala's life. He conducts an attack on her through which Venky comes to know that Chandrakala is actually Babji's second sister and that he had sent her with Sathya to Hyderabad to maintain a low profile. Babji readies Chandrakala to marry Bharath. He also continues to search for whoever abducted his sister. Using the help of Nano Shastri, Venky manages to get Babji and Chandrakala into his house. He also comes to know that the reason Kesava Reddy wants to kill Chandrakala is that his younger sister committed suicide because she loved Babji although he did not reciprocate the same. He hires Hamsa Sippy, Sippy's wife, to act as his father, Meka Papa Rao a.k.a. Puppy's wife. He tells Babji's elder sister to come back on the engagement day to act as if not married and Babji fixes the marriage of his elder sister with Bharat. But unexpectedly, they all come to know that the girl is pregnant and so Bharat refuses to marry.
Then Venky tells Babji that his brother who is actually Babji's sister's husband and is acting as Venky's brother will marry his sister. Babji agrees for the wedding and, in turn, tells Chandrakala that she is to marry Bharat again. Through an attack incident, Venky comes to know that Bharat is Kesava Reddy's son. He tells Kesava Reddy that even Babji is aware of this fact and is planning to kill Bharat on a trip to Srisailam. Kesava Reddy ends up believing him and attacks Babji and the group on the way. He foolishly reveals to Babji that Bharat is his son and that he is aware Babji will kill him. When Kesava Reddy realizes his folly, he kidnaps Chandrakala and Bharat and escapes from the spot. Boiling star Bablu who mistakes it to be a serial shoot stops Kesava Reddy on the way which gives Venky enough time to reach Kesava Reddy. In a thrilling climax, Venky gets Babji to beat up Kesava Reddy and using his "Sympathy angle" trick, which he had earlier used to get Babji and his sister together, He gets Babji to agree for his and Chandrakala's wedding as well. The film ends with Sippy saying that with "Loukyam", you can fool not only Babji but even God and Boiling star Bablu saying he is Cool Bablu from now on and he will do only comedy serials and not action ones.

Cast

Music composed by Anoop Rubens. Music released on ADITYA Music Company.

Trivia

Development

After his directorial Pandavulu Pandavulu Tummeda released on 31 January 2014, Sriwass announced his next film with Gopichand as the protagonist with V. Anand Prasad producing the film on Bhavya Creations banner. The news was confirmed by a press release on 20 February 2014 which added that Sridhar Seepana wrote the story and the dialogues, Kona Venkat and Gopimohan penned the screenplay of the film. Sriwass said that the film is in its Pre-production stages and the film's shooting would begin in April 2014. The film was launched on 11 April 2014 at Film Nagar in Hyderabad by conducting a small pooja ceremony at the Venkateswara Temple there. On that day, it was declared that Anoop Rubens is the music director, Vetri is the cinematographer, Vivek is the Art director, P. L. M. Khan is the executive producer and Kanal Kannan is the action choreographer. The makers said that the film is based in the city of Hyderabad. On 27 July 2014 a press release confirmed that the film has been titled as Loukyam. Collections-51+ crores

Casting

Sriwass said that Gopichand will be seen as a "diplomatic young man who handles any difficult situation with smile on his face". In the end of March 2014, Rakul Preet Singh was selected as the female lead of the movie which marked her first collaboration with both Gopichand and Sriwass. In July 2014, a press release confirmed that Hamsa Nandini is playing a cameo and would also do an item number. Confirming her inclusion, Hamsa Nandini revealed about her role in the film in an interview to The Times of India. She said, "This is the first time I am experimenting with comedy and I am excited about how things are shaping up. All I can say is that my role has a surprise element. I play the role of a woman who thinks she's too intelligent when she clearly isn't." It was known on 5 August 2014 that Brahmanandam's character in the film is named Sippy and his role would stay till the climax of the movie. Rakul Preet Singh also added that her character in the film is titled Chandrakala.

Filming

The regular shooting began on 18 April 2014 at Hyderabad. After completing the first schedule, filming continued in the end of May 2014 at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad where an action sequence was shot on Gopichand and Pradeep Rawat under the supervision of Kanal Kannan. The sequences were also shot near JNTU campus where Rakul Preet Singh was spot filming the shots alongside Gopichand. Later, another press release stated that 50% of the film's shoot is complete and with the completion of the schedule starting from 17 June 2014, the shoot of the film's talkie part would come to an end. It added that 3 songs will be filmed in abroad locations. On 27 July 2014 a press release confirmed that the next schedule would begin from 5 August 2014 in which songs would be filmed. The item number was shot on Gopichand and Hamsa Nandini at Ramanaidu Studios in Nanakramguda on 5 August 2014 and by then, the film's talkie part was completed. The last schedule started at Europe on 23 August 2014 and 3 songs were shot on the lead pair. A press release on 31 August 2014 stated that the film's shoot has been wrapped up and has entered post-production phase.

Release

In July 2014, it was reported that the film would release in September 2014. Later the film's producer added that the film would release in the third week of September 2014 if all goes well. On 31 August 2014 the makers announced that the film would release worldwide on 26 September 2014.

Marketing

At the end of July 2014, the makers released few stills featuring the protagonists. The stills featuring Gopichand and Hamsa Nandini from the film's item number were officially released on 5 August 2014 by the makers. The first look poster featuring Gopichand was released on 15 August 2014 on the eve of 68th Independence Day of India. The film's first look teaser was launched on 18 August 2014.