ISmart Shankar
iSmart Shankar is a 2019 Indian Telugu-language science fiction action film written and directed by Puri Jagannadh, who co-produced the film with Charmme Kaur. It stars Ram Pothineni in the titular role along with Satyadev Kancharana, Nabha Natesh, and Nidhhi Agerwal. The film follows a contract killer who helps the police when a slain police officer's memories are transferred to his brain. The film is loosely based on the plot of the 2016 American film "Criminal" and 2017 British film "iBoy". It features music composed by Mani Sharma. The film is released theatrically on 18  July 2019. It is a commercial success, running for more than 100 days at the box office. A sequel titled "Double iSmart" has been announced. The film received mixed reviews from critics with praise for the cast's performance, score and action sequences but criticism for the second half and climax. Plot. Shankar is a street-smart Hyderabadi contract killer who works under Kaka. Under Mama's orders, he murders a high-profile politician named Kasi Viswanath. Vishwanath's son Devendra and his brother in law Ramamoorthy swear revenge on Shankar. The film opens with Shankar escaping from jail while  being chased by the police. He beats up the police and escapes in a truck where he recollects the past While extorting money from an apartment builder, he encounters Chandni, a girl just as rough as him who even goes to the extent of slapping Shankar. Impressed, he falls for her, and after a few altercations, she reciprocates. Once Shankar murders Kasi Vishwanath on Kaka's orders, he escapes to Goa with Chandni. However, the police find out his location and track him down. While escaping, Chandni is shot and killed. Shankar is beside himself with grief and swears to  kill the person who killed her. In a parallel storyline, Sara is a neuroscientist who is working on memory transfer and has achieved successful results with rats. Her boyfriend, Arun, is a CBI officer who is trying to crack the case of the murder of Kasi Vishwanath. He believes there is a higher force that planned and killed him. Shankar finds out that Kaka was ordered to kill him as well and murders Kaka when he plans to escape in Sarah's car. He flees while Sarah calls Arun. Arun catches a guy running, but the guy is killed when  a car hits him. Arun's higher-ups are after him to find the killer, and while Arun is about to crack the case, he is shot and killed by goons. The CBI is desperate to know who the murderer is, so with Sarah's help, they transfer Arun's memory to Shankar, knowing full well doing so will remove his past. Shankar wakes up and experiences shocks and memories that aren't his own. He gets enraged when Sarah reveals the truth to him and realizes that he will forget Chandni in a few days. He experiences brief flashes  where he becomes Arun but reverts to being Shankar. He finds Arun's house and discovers a bag that has all the proof of who the murderer is, then he calls the Commissioner to meet him in the Goa where he tells that the murderer's are Devendra and Ramamurthy after few minutes, Shankar reverts, beating all the cops taking Sara at knife point he escapes and after a few events Arun reverts with the help of Commissioner. he makes a plan to arrest Devendra and Ramamurthy with all the proof in Banras, but as they expose Devendra try to  run. Arun follows him, but as Devendra and his men continuously beat Arun in his head, Shankar reverts, and Sara tell him that Devendra is the only person responsible for his Chandni's murder. After a tragic and dramatic fight between Shankar and Devendra, Shankar killed Devendra and completed his vow. Sara and Arun then go to Hong Kong on vacation, where Arun proposes to Sara as he promised her to marry him on 14 February. In a post credit scene, we see, while kissing Sara, Arun gets shocked in his mind. Production. The Hyderabad portion of scheduled filming finished  in February. Filming in Goa completed in March. The action scenes of the film were shot in Varanasi during April. Filming completed in mid May. Sequel. It is a commercial success. A sequel titled Double iSmart has been announced. Release. The film was released theatrically on 18 July 2019. The film was also dubbed and released in Hindi on YouTube on 16 February 2020 by Aditya Movies. The Hindi dubbed version crossed more than 200 million views. Reception. "Firstpost" gave 3 out of 5 stars stating, "iSmart Shankar is proof enough that Puri Jagannadh is back with a bang. It  might not be his best film, but it’s certainly his most watchable film in years. And Ram is a ball of energy. iSmart Shankar might have its roots in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but Puri Jagannadh gives it his own spin and reimagines it as a quintessential Telugu mass film.". "The Times of India" gave 2.5 out of 5 stars stating, "In this make-believe world, when rules change by-the-minute, it’s hard to give a damn". "Sify" gave 2.5 out of 5 stars stating "iSmart Shankar is aimed at frontbenchers. Despite the idea of  transplantation of memories being new, the rest of the story and its treatment are over-the-top and too clichéd. This is a loud mass action-thriller".