Simha (film)


Simha is a 2010 Indian Telugu-language action film directed by Boyapati Srinu and produced by Paruchuri Kireeti under the United Movies banner. The film stars Nandamuri Balakrishna as the protagonist in a dual role. It also stars Nayantara and Sneha Ullal in the other lead roles, Adithya Menon and Sai Kumar as the antagonists and Namitha, Kota Srinivasa Rao, K. R. Vijaya and Rahman in supporting roles. The film features original soundtrack by Chakri, art direction by A. S. Prakash, cinematography by Arthur Wilson and editing by Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao. The film was released on 30 April 2010 and received positive reviews from critics. The film was a massive success at the box office and went on to become the highest grosser of 2010 in Tollywood. The film also achieved the distinction of being one of the highest-grossing films in the Telugu Film Industry. It is also the first time in nine years that a Balakrishna film has become the biggest grosser of the year after Narasimha Naidu. Balakrishna received the Nandi Award for Best Actor for this film, his second after his 2001 film Narasimha Naidu.

Plot

Srimannarayana is a university lecturer in Hyderabad who lives with his grandmother. He does not tolerate injustice anywhere and beats up people who dare to break the law, a personality which makes him feared and respected among others. A female lecturer Mahima is attracted to him, though he doesn't reciprocate her feelings. While beating up a goon who threatened to throw acid on a girl after she spurned his advances, he accidentally punches a comatose man on the head, waking him from his 28-year coma. This man's name is Veerakesavudu.
One day, a new student Janaki joins the college where Srimannarayana is teaching. She initially thinks he is a rowdy after an earlier encounter with him and seeing how everyone in the college fears him, but once she finds out about his true personality, she develops a crush on him. One day, after Srimannarayana rescues her from a group of thugs, she reveals her past. Her father, businessman Jagadish Prasad, has a business rivalry with Gopi, a gangster who happens to be Veerakesavudu's son. After Veerakesavudu woke up from his coma, he ordered Jagadish to give Janaki's hand in marriage to Gopi so their mutual rivalry is finished, to which he agreed, fearing Veerakesavudu's wrath. But Gopi killed Janaki's brother Anand Prasad during the wedding after he insulted him, prompting Jagadish to send Janaki to Hyderabad to continue her studies. The thugs who tried to kidnap her were Gopi's henchmen. On hearing this, Srimannarayana vows to protect Janaki and accommodates her next to his house. He soon reciprocates her feelings for him, prompting Maheswari to drop her love for him.
Unfortunately for Janaki, Gopi finds out she is with Srimannarayana and kidnaps her, only for Srimannarayana to rescue her after a dramatic car chase. When they reach home, they are confronted by Gopi's henchmen. Jagadish arrives there at the same time that Srimannarayana is fighting the henchmen and in a bid to help, accidentally stabs Srimannarayana's grandmother. Srimannarayana is enraged and attempts to kill him, but his grandmother stops him. Jagadish immediately leaves with Janaki. Later, Srimannarayana confronts his grandmother and asks her why she didn't let him kill Jagadish. In reply, she reveals about their past.
30 years ago, in the town of Bobbili, Veerakesavudu and his family ran a ruthless self-government, tormenting the townsfolk and supported by the police. The only person who dared to fight them back was a doctor named Narasimha, who belonged to the Bobbili royal family and was the father of Srimannarayana. He took the law into his own hands and killed many of Veerakesavudu's henchmen, including his brothers, when he caught them tormenting others. While not killing others, he ran a 24x7 hospital which provided treatment free of cost. His wife Gayatri was an ideal wife who was always affectionate towards Narasimha and supported all his methods. Jagadish, who was Gayatri's brother and who wanted to start a business with Veerakesavudu's help, warned her about Narasimha's dangerous behaviour, but she brushed the warnings aside, having full faith in her husband and his methods. Veerakesavudu and his father decided to eliminate Narasimha and his family by attempting to poison them during a temple function. When the temple priest warned Narasimha about the threat to his life, Narasimha rushed to Veerakesavudu's house and killed all his men as well as his father. However, Veerakesavudu was ultimately successful in killing Narasimha and Gayatri. But just before he died, Narasimha hit Veerakesavudu on the head, sending him into a coma which he woke up from after 28 years. Narasimha's mother, who happens to be Srimannarayana's grandmother, took the young and newly orphaned Srimannarayana away with her to Hyderabad so that he could be brought up away from the violence in Bobbili.
On hearing about his family's past, Srimannarayana decides to take revenge on Veerakesavudu and heads for Bobbili to finish his father's mission. He single-handedly kills Veerakesavudu, Gopi, and their henchmen, fulfilling the wishes of the Bobbili townsfolk who wanted Veerakesavudu family's reign of terror and horror to be ended for good.

Cast

While S. Chinna composed the film score, all the songs featured in the film were composed by Chakri. Music released on ADITYA Music Company. The music was released on 31 March 2010 directly into market. The audio function of the movie was called off as Nandamuri Balakrishna met with an accident.

Reception

Upon release, the film opened to mostly positive reviews. Sify noted "Simha is out and out a formulaic movie. The urge of director Boyapati Srinu can be clearly felt in the theatre when he showed Balakrishna in an extraordinary manner." Rediff gave a two star rating saying "One knows what to expect from a Balakrishna film and Simha is a perfect example of that: a true mainstream entertainer catering to the masses with high-voltage action, overdose of violence and the mandatory songs. Balakrishna has put in a restrained performance." The Times of India stated "Balakrishna is back in his element as a fiery doctor and does a good job. Nayantara delivers a knock-out performance. While Sneha has no role to play, Namitha exudes enough oomph. Even baddies like Sai kumar, Aditya Menon and Kota Srinivas Rao put in a decent performance".

Box office

The film has topped at the box-office of that year and the satellite rights were sold off at 50 million. The movie proved to be a major blockbuster for Tollywood in the year 2010. Simha collected more than and became one of the highest-grossing Tollywood films. The film ran for 50 days in 338 centers and 100 days in 92 centres.

Run records

Simha completed 50 days in 338 centres successfully.
Simha completed 100 days in 92 centres successfully. Simha completed 400 days in Shiva theater, Yemmiganur.

Awards

The movie has won several awards:
AwardCategoryRecipients and nomineesOutcome
Nandi AwardsNandi Award for Best ActorBalakrishna
Nandi AwardsNandi Award for Best Comedian FemaleJhansi
Nandi AwardsNandi Award for Best Music DirectorChakri
CineMAA AwardsCineMAA Award for Best ActorBalakrishna
Santosham Film AwardsSanthosham Award for Best ActorBalakrishna
Santosham Film AwardsSanthosham Award for Best Singer FemaleKausalya
Santosham Film AwardsSanthosham Award for Best DirectorBoyapati Srinu