Saaho


Saaho is a 2019 Indian action thriller film written and directed by Sujeeth. It was produced by Vamsi Krishna Reddy, Pramod Uppalapati and Bhushan Kumar under their respective banners of UV Creations and T-Series. Filmed simultaneously in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, it stars Prabhas and Shraddha Kapoor, marking the former's Hindi debut and the latter's debut in South Indian cinema The film follows an expansive criminal syndicate engulfed in a power struggle following the death of their leader.
Principal photography for Saaho began in August 2017. Filming took place in India, United Arab Emirates, Romania and Austria. Produced on a budget of 350 crore, it is one of the most expensive Indian films ever produced. The film's soundtrack was released under the banner T-Series. Saaho was released in India in theatres and IMAX on 30 August 2019.
The film received generally unfavorable reviews and grossed 433 crore at the worldwide box office.

Plot

Narantak Roy, the crime boss of Waaji City's underworld, is killed in a deliberate car crash in Mumbai. Devraj, the son of a former crime boss, declares himself the next leader of the crime syndicate. Ibrahim reveals to Kalki, legal advisor of the Roy Group that Roy's family has been killed and he has been raising a secret for 25 years. The secret was that he had a son named Vishwank. Vishwank foils Devraj's plans by succeeding his father as the next boss. Vishwank is determined to unmask his father's murderer.
The story turns to India, where a mastermind steals about two trillion rupees with ease. A nationwide manhunt ensues to find the culprit. Undercover agent, Ashok Chakravarthy, who is extremely secretive, is assigned head of the manhunt. Working with Amritha Nair, an officer he likes, they uncover a thief named Jai and trap him, believing him to be the culprit. Amritha and Ashok fall in love. There is a chase in which Amritha, Ashok, and David confront Jai. In a twist, it is revealed that the thief "Jai" is the real undercover police officer Ashok Chakravarthy: the lead officer that has been with them the entire time is actually the real thief who stole the two trillion rupees, Saaho. As Saaho escapes with his partner David, Amritha, along with the entire police department, is left stunned.
It is revealed that Devraj killed Roy in order to take Roy's place. Amritha tracks Saaho and pretends that she is still in love with him but is actually helping Ashok. However, she actually falls for Saaho and betrays Ashok. When Amritha is shot and taken away by Devraj, Saaho is forced to give him the black box, the key to the locker holding the money of all the gangsters. However, he deceives Devraj and gives the black box to Vishwank. Saaho destroys Devraj's building and steals the money he had. He is chased by Ashok and the police, with a sniper in a helicopter aiming at him. Amritha, also in the helicopter, tries to save Saaho by distracting the sniper, but the sniper pushes her into danger. Saaho saves her with a jet pack but is arrested.
Kalki is revealed to be on Devraj's side. She opens the vault with Vishwank's fingerprint and the black box and finds pictures of Roy and his son. Saaho battles Devraj's goons and defeats them. Devraj arrives, and Saaho reveals that he is Siddhant Nandan Saaho, the real son of Roy. He also reveals that he did all this to avenge his father's death. Ashok and Amritha learn Saaho's real identity as well. Kalki sees a portrait of Roy and Saaho in the vault, shocking all of them. Saaho kills Devraj, finally avenging his father's death.
Ibrahim reveals that Vishwank was not Roy's son, but Ibrahim's own son; his real name is Iqbal. Iqbal was there to save Roy's throne. He reveals Saaho's real identity to the gang members, and Saaho becomes the next king of the underworld. Months later, Saaho locates Amritha in Innsbruck, Austria and confesses his love; they share a kiss. In the distance, a sniper aims at Saaho as he opens his eyes, aware of the danger.

Cast

The film was produced on a budget of 350 crore. The film was shot in Austria, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Romania, and other parts of Europe. Principal photography began in August 2017. Arun Vijay, Jackie Shroff, Lal, Neil Nitin Mukesh, and Mandira Bedi were roped in along with the leads, Prabhas and Shraddha Kapoor. A large part of the budget was spent to shoot the action scenes in the film. International stunt coordinator Kenny Bates was brought in to choreograph the action scenes. Arun Vijay grew his hair out to portray his character in Saaho.
The first schedule of the film, which was in Hyderabad, was completed by October 2017. The second schedule of the film began in December 2017 at Ramoji Film City. According to the producers of the film, Shraddha Kapoor had shot action sequences in the film with heavy weaponry. After a few days, they shifted to Dubai for a month where some of the major action sequences were shot with Prabhas and Neil Nitin Mukesh, while Shraddha Kapoor switched to her next venture, Stree. After shooting half of the film in Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Dubai, the cast and crew of Saaho began with the fourth schedule of the film in Abu Dhabi in February 2018 and ended within a few weeks. The fifth schedule of the film, also in Abu Dhabi, started in late-February. The sixth schedule of the film began in mid-March in Dubai and Romania. The final leg of film and romantic songs were shot in Innsbruck and in the Tyrol region of Austria.
An action sequence, which features in an exceptionally long period of the screenplay, was shot extensively near the Burj Khalifa; 25 crores from the budget had been spent. Prabhas had gone under rigorous training, which involved cardiovascular and weight training, and plyometric obstacle races. Prabhas praised his co-star Shraddha Kapoor, stating that she was the best choice for her character. She holds a strong character in the film, while Prabhas' character is a grey-shaded fictitious role. He plays the character of a cop which will keep the audience guessing until the end.
The film features some underwater sequences with Prabhas, who had learned scuba diving in preparation. Prabhas will be dubbing his own lines in the Hindi version, while a professional dubbing artist will dub for Shraddha Kapoor in the Telugu version. The film features Neil Nitin Mukesh as the antagonist. Mandira Bedi, who is known for her grey roles on the small screen, will play an out and out negative role in the film also.
Choreographer Vaibhavi Merchant shot two romantic songs. The shoot initially began in Austria's Alpine city of Innsbruck, including the House of Music and trams in Innsbruck, Finstertal in Kühtai, and Adlers Hotel. Some scenes were also shot at the nearby town of Seefeld. Additionally, romantic songs were shot at the "Top of Tyrol" viewing platform on Stubai Glacier, the Restaurant ice Q in Sölden, the Swaroski Crystal Worlds, and the Highline179 suspension bridge at Reutte in the Tyrol region. The production also shot some parts of a romantic song at Redbull's Hangar 7 at Salzburg Airport. Robinville and Creative Creatures were service producers for the Austria schedule.

Soundtrack

The songs are composed by Tanishk Bagchi, Guru Randhawa, Badshah, Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, and Ghibran. The lyrics are written by Tanishk Bagchi, Guru Randhawa, Badshah and Manoj Yadav in Hindi, Vinayak Sasikumar in Malayalam, Madhan Karky and Vignesh Shivan in Tamil, Sreejo and Krishna Kanth in Telugu. A bonus track Bang Bang was released after the film release.

Track list Hindi

Track list Malayalam

Track list Tamil

Track list Telugu

Marketing and release

The teaser of the film was released on 27 April 2017 along with the release of Prabhas' last film . The first look poster of Prabhas from the film was revealed on his birthday on 22 October 2017. There was some controversy about the poster looking similar to the poster of Blade Runner 2049, with many fans and followers criticising the poster for the perceived plagiarism. The following year, a making of the film featurette was released on 22 October 2018, on Prabhas' birthday. A second making of the film featurette was released on 2 March 2019, on Shraddha Kapoor's birthday. A poster was unveiled on 21 May 2019 of Prabhas from the film. A week later, another poster of Prabhas was revealed. On 10 June 2019, the first look poster of Shradha Kapoor from the film was released. Another poster of Prabhas was released on 12 June 2019. On 23 July 2019, UV Creations released new posters picturing Prabhas and Shraddha Kapoor and giving a new release date of 30 August 2019, in Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, and Tamil.

Games

Saaho - The Game, a First-person shooter mobile game created by the Hyderabad-based company Pixalot Labs, was released on 15 August 2019.

Release

The film was released on 30 August 2019 worldwide in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Upon release, Saaho was dubbed in Kannada and Malayalam version was released on Amazon prime.

Lawsuit

Outshiny India, a luggage and bag manufacturer, filed a complaint and lawsuit against the director and multiple staff members for fraud/cheating at the Madhapur police station. The manufacturers alleged that the filmmakers signed an expensive deal with them that mandated their product would be shown in the film; they alleged the filmmakers defaulted on their promise. They claimed that the marketing, advocate and contract fees, and amount paid to the filmmakers resulted in a total loss of 1.38 crore.

Reception

Critical response

The film has received generally negative reviews. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 9%, based on 11 reviews with an average rating of 3.85/10.
Lakshana N Palat from India Today has given one and a half out of five stars calling Saaho "a 350-crore disaster" and that it is a "laboured and exhausting watch". She has added that "the saving grace of Saaho are the visuals and the high-octane action sequences" and that "the makers got so carried away with crafting action scenes and Prabhas' starry presence that they forgot about the story and character development midway".
Writing for The Times of India, Thinkal Menon rated Saaho two and a half stars out of five, praising the technical aspects while criticising the script. Menon additionally stated how the film was "largely dubbed in Tamil, leading to lip-sync issues". Taran Adarsh gave the film one and a half stars out of five, commenting on its "weak story, confusing screenplay and amateur direction".
A reviewer for Bollywood Hungama gave it two and a half out of five, opining that it "suffers from a lackadaisical script and a vacuous screenplay." Rajeev Masand of CNN-News18 gave the film one and a half stars out of five; while he praised Prabhas for his "enormous presence and unmistakable sincerity", Masand felt the film had "all the depth and emotional wallop of a video game".

Box office

Saaho made on its opening day worldwide, the second highest-ever for an Indian film, surpassing 2.0s opening of, but lower than Prabhas's previous film , which holds the record for the highest-opening Indian film. After the second day, the worldwide collection was 220 crore The film made gross on its opening weekend worldwide and on its first week. On day 10 Saaho crossed Net collection in India stood at 302 crore by the end of its theatrical run.