Nannaku Prematho
Nannaku Prematho () is a 2016 Indian Telugu-language action thriller film written and directed by Sukumar and produced by B. V. S. N. Prasad under Sri Venkateswara Cine Chitra, Bhogavalli Bapineedu and Reliance Entertainment. The film, set in London, stars N. T. Rama Rao Jr., Jagapathi Babu, Rajendra Prasad and Rakul Preet Singh. "Nannaku Prematho" marks the 25th film of Rama Rao Jr. as an actor. Devi Sri Prasad has composed the film's music and background score. The cinematography was provided by Vijay C Chakravarthy, and Naveen Nooli edited the film. Principal photography commenced in August 2015 . The audio launch of this film was held on 27 December 2015. The film was released worldwide on 13 January 2016. It is being remade in Bengali as "Baazi" (2021). Plot. Abhiraam is the youngest son of London-based Subrahmanyam, who quits his job and starts his own company, K.M.C Pipes and Canals and he completes his company's first project in Spain. He learns that his father is suffering from pancreatic cancer and has roughly a month or more to live. Subrahmanyam reveals his name as Ramesh Chandra Prasad, who was once London's richest entrepreneur, who lost all  his wealth because of a cunning man, Krishnamuurti Kautilya, who made his worldwide business empire cheating Ramesh Chandra. He was then forced to change his name to Subrahmanyam and got rich again after years of work. Subrahmanyam requests his three sons to take revenge on his behalf. His first son lies to him that he has filed a lawsuit against Krishnamuurti in order to pacify him, but Abhiraam ends up taking matters into his own hands. He sets a time period of thirty days to bring Krishnamuurti to zero and hires three youngsters who are shown to love their fathers  dearly. He targets Krishnamuurti's daughter Divyaanka in order to reach him. He uses all methods necessary to woo her. After saving her from a kidnapping and spending every last penny of their family bank balance to buy her a 25 crore worth of painting. He finally meets Krishnamuurti at Divya's birthday party, but Krishnamuurti turns out to be aware of Abhiraam's intentions. Subrahmanyam gets admitted to the hospital as his condition turns critical. Abhiraam's brothers break up with him after they come to know that Abhiraam wasted their property on the painting. Krishnamuurti plants a bug  in Abhiraam's lair, because of which he discovers their plans, and Divya too learns of Abhiraam's intentions and breaks up with him. Krishnamuurti had grabbed People Oil and Natural Gas project, which is one of the largest oil and gas bases in Europe belonging to a businessman Kapil Sinha in Spain, to where he goes with Divya. Abhiraam follows them with his group but gets kidnapped by Divya's henchman. She does so as she wants to find his plans of ruining her father. During this period, Abhiraam regains Divya's love and also gets her to meet  her mother in jail, whom she had not met since she was four years old and revealed her mysterious dream. Her father had planted drugs in their bag during one of their travels, but the airport officials find the bag with Divya's mother when Krishnamuurti and Divya were in the washroom. Krishnamuurti leaves his wife to save himself and his daughter. Divya begins to loathe her father. Meanwhile, it turns out that the painting gifted to Krishnamuurti had a camera in it and that Abhiraam, too, was aware of Krishnamuurti's plans. He finds out Krishnamuurti's bank number  and accesses the account, transferring the 35,000 crores to his family account. It is also revealed that the People Oil and Natural Gas land that Krishnamuurti grabbed was no real gas land, and the gas there was given by tunnels planted by Abhiraam's KMC company: Krishnamuurtini Mosam Chese company (lit. 'Cheating Krishnamuurti Company'). Kapil is revealed to be Satpal Singh, Subrahmanyam's ex-adviser who had been supporting Abhiraam since beginning. Krishnamuurti becomes of the same condition as Ramesh Chandra Prasad and absconds and changes his identity to Subrahmanyam. Divya and her mother move in with Abhiraam's family , but sadly, Ramesh Chandra succumbs to his disease and dies. Abhiraam still does not cry as he thinks that his father will go the day he cries. Production. Development. In April 2015, Sukumar came up with the story of the film. In July 2015, the film's shooting had started, and by December, the post-production was done. The film's first look poster had released on 17 September 2015 on the occasion of Vinayaka Chavithi. The film's teaser was released on 21 October 2015 on the occasion of the Vijayadasami (Dasara) festival. The teaser created a record of  being the most liked and viewed Telugu film teaser at the time. Another poster was released as a Deepavali Special, featuring a dancing still of Jr. NTR. Casting. Rakul Preet Singh was selected to play the female lead role opposite Jr. NTR. Rajendra Prasad plays the role of Jr. NTR's father in this film. Initially, it was rumoured that Jagapati Babu and NTR's own father Nandamuri Harikrishna were approached to play NTR's father role in the movie, but due to some reasons, both had refused. Jagapati Babu is instead playing the main negative role. Filming. Principal photography  commenced in the United Kingdom. It was a 40-day schedule where all the actors took part. The MRMC Bolt High Speed Cinebot, the fastest camera robot in the world, which is used to obtain shots of extremely high speed objects with absolute detail, was used in some crucial scenes during the UK schedule. After wrapping up the UK schedule, the team returned to Hyderabad. While Sukumar was directing Nannaku Prematho, he was simultaneously producing the movie "Kumari 21F", so he took a break because Kumari 21F was nearing its release date. The "Nannaku Prematho" team then finished some part  of the title song shoot in Hyderabad near Toopran. Afterwards, the team shifted to Spain for the final schedule of the film. The movie team wrapped up its Spain schedule by late-November 2015. Finally, the team shifted back to Hyderabad to shoot a final scene sequence. On 30 December 2015, the filmmakers announced that the film's shooting was wrapped. Soundtrack. Music of this film was composed by Devi Sri Prasad, who collaborated for the fifth time with both Jr. NTR and Sukumar. The audio rights were bought by Junglee Music. After the death of Satyamurthy, Prasad's father  and former film screenplay and story writer, the album was dedicated to the former in an audio launch ceremony on 27 December 2015. For the fifth time in his career, Jr. NTR lent his vocals for a jazz-style number called "Follow Follow". "Behindwoods.com" gave the soundtrack 4 out of 5 stars, stating that " Nannaku Prematho is a fun album with ample dose of trendy as well as mass numbers with a tinge of experimentation. All in all, it is another winner in the combo of Sukumar- DSP!". Another film news website, "Indiaglitz.com", also rated the album 3 out of  5 stars and stated that "Devi Sri Prasad, Sukumar and NTR are an exciting combination. This album brings out this uniqueness in its choice of lyrics. It is not vintage DSP at his best. All that you can expect from this album is good dose of energy and verve, DSP-style, NTR-style". "123telugu.com" quoted this album as a "different album from the crazy combo" and finally stated that "On the whole, the audio of Nannaku Prematho is quite different from Devi Sri Prasad’s regular albums. Even though the tunes are not in the regular commercial format, they are  elevated well by some meaningful and catchy lyrics." Distribution. The overseas theatrical distribution rights were acquired by CineGalaxy Inc. for 6.2 crores. RansiTech Solutions Ltd. bagged the UK distribution rights in late October 2015 "Reliance" Raghu of Shantha Pictures acquired the Ceded distribution Rights for 7.2 crores. This is the highest price offered to any movie in this region after "", which was bought for 13 crores. Box office. "Nannaku Prematho" grossed worldwide in the first nine days. By the end of its second week had grossed . Critical reception. Times of India rated the film 4.5/5, and wrote, "(The flaws) should  be no reason to miss this film because Nannaku Prematho is like a delectable serving of dessert with a hint of tang. The flavour may seem out of place initially because you aren’t used to it. But if you try it with an open mind, you’d probably savour it." Idlebrain.com gave it 3.75/5 and wrote, "The underlying emotion of father-son gets fused in the complex screenplay and the mind games between hero and villain. It’s a great effort by Sukumar in terms of screenplay and logic. On a whole, Nannaku Prematho is a commendable and extraordinary  concept thriller made on grand scale." Business Standard stated that NTR, particularly, needs to be lauded for not playing to the gallery and choosing to work with a director who isn't afraid to go against the tide. This is precisely why you want to appreciate Sukumar, who, by all means, could have safely made a regular commercial potboiler. But he didn't, and that's what differentiates him from other filmmakers as he made this film an action thriller with memorable twists. "Nannaku Prematho", on the whole, isn't a bad film as it was made even more sensibly