Raja the Great
Raja The Great is a 2017 Indian Telugu-language action comedy film written and directed by Anil Ravipudi and produced by Dil Raju on Sri Venkateswara Creations banner. The film stars Ravi Teja as a visually impaired man, alongside Mehreen Pirzada and Raadhika. Vivan Bhatena, Rajendra Prasad, Prakash Raj and Sampath Raj play supporting roles with music composed by Sai Karthik. The film marks the debut of Teja's son Mahadhan as child actor. The film began its production began in April 2017 with filming taking place in Hyderabad and Darjeeling. Released worldwide on 18 October 2017 , the film received mixed reviews from critics and audience with praise towards the cast performances, action sequences and entertainment value but criticism for writing and uneven tone. It was a commercial success grossing more than , becoming the highest-grossing film in Teja's career. Plot. Lucky is a very protected and pampered daughter of a sincere police officer, SP Prakash. In one of his operations, Prakash encounters the brother of a powerful gangster named Devaraj, for which Lucky was one of the reasons. The angered Devaraj seeks revenge, and in the attack, Prakash gets killed and also targets Lucky. Lucky  runs away to Darjeeling and hides in her father's friend Prasad's house to evade an attempt on her life. Now, the police department looks out for a special team with the objective of providing security for Lucky. Raja is a blind man, who is trained by his head constable mother Anantha Lakshmi, to use his disability to his advantage. Anantha Lakshmi's ambition is to make her son a police officer. She obliges with the IG Viswaraj to include her blind son in the mission. After a few incidents, he agrees to send him, but only to cook  food for other officers. Raja, with his friend Bujji and three others, goes to Darjeeling. Raja meets Lucky and starts changing the depressed Lucky into making her have a happy mood with a few tricks. He also learns about Prasad's difficulties and solves their problems. Lucky comes out of her depressed state and starts celebrating her life with Raja's help. Meanwhile, Devaraj gets to know where Lucky is and orders his goons to attack her. Knowing this, IG Viswaraj and his team come to protect Lucky by sending her abroad. Raja tells her not to run and instead  fight back, but Viswaraj neglects him and takes Lucky away. Devaraj's goons attack Viswaraj and his team on the way and try to kill Lucky, but to everyone's surprise, Raja rescues them by defeating the goons. Lucky gains confidence in Raja, and she agrees to stay with him and fight back. Lucky and Raja go to her uncles's house in Madhura, but her uncles do not accept her for a brief period of time. Raja makes them realize their mistakes. On Lucky's birthday, she gets to know what her father's wish was (to educate poor  girls by adopting them) and makes her father's wish as her ambition. Meanwhile, a cat and mouse game ensues where Raja defeats the goons and gives Devaraj, a strong warning not to trouble Lucky again. Devaraj kidnaps Anantha Lakshmi and Lucky. Raja, however, saves his mother and Lucky with his intelligence. Raja, while escaping with Lucky and Bujji from Devaraj's factory, gathers the evidence against Devaraj. IG Viswaraj is granted a warrant against Devaraj. When the police goes to Devaraj to arrest him, he injures Raja and insults him (that he is scared of facing him alone and  all), which rises Anantha Lakshmi's anger and she challenges Devaraj to fight her son. Raja fights and defeats Devaraj, but he does not kill him. Viswaraj encounters Devaraj and involves Raja in future police operations. Production. Anil Ravipudi had the idea to make a film with visually impaired character as a lead as he was fascinated by the talents they have. Ravipudi however didn't want the film to be art film and wrote the script in a commercial format. Ravipudi approached Ram Pothineni and N. T. Rama Rao Jr. for the film but Ravi Teja was finalized. Mehreen  Pirzada was cast opposite Teja. Principal photography of the film began in April 2017 in Hyderabad. The production moved to Darjeeling later that month. 70% of the shoot was completed by July 2017. Release. The film was released on 18 October 2017. The film was later dubbed and released in Tamil as "Raja Raja Dhan" in 2019 and the film was dubbed in Malayalam under the same title in 2021 The Hindi dubbed version is expected to premiere on Dhinchaak TV channel in March 2022. Soundtrack. The music is composed by Sai Karthik and released on Aditya Music Company. Raja  The Great (Title Song) was released online, for which Ravi Teja gave his voice. Reception. Karthik Keramulu writing for the "Firstpost" rated 2.5 of 5 and wrote: "Raja The Great is an okayish entertaining affair in the theatre. However, the minute one walks out of the movie house, there’d be nothing to pull from the bed of the two-and-a-half-hour comedy to laugh about." "The Hindu"'s Sangeetha Devi stated: "Anil Ravipudi takes the mass route with a blind protagonist and the result is silly humour." "The Indian Express" critic Manoj Kumar R who rated 2  stars, opined: "You don't go to watch a Ravi Teja film, which is directed by Anil Ravipudi, expecting a Nayakan. It's only fair that we judge his latest offering, Raja The Great, by the standards of mindless entertainers." Sequel. Ravipudi confirmed the film's sequel in one of the interviews, stating: "There is a slight tease at the very end of the rolling titles hinting at the possibility of a sequel for the actioner. The sequel will definitely happen but I can’t tell you the exact schedule of the shooting, release, and other details at the moment