''Aadi'' is a 2002 Indian

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

-language

action drama In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-gen ...

film written and directed by debutant V. V. Vinayak. The film stars

N. T. Rama Rao Jr. Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Jr. (born 20 May 1983), also known as Jr. N.T.R. or Tarak, is an Indian actor who primarily works in Telugu cinema. One of the highest paid Telugu film actors, Rama Rao Jr. has won several accolades, including two Fil ...

and

Keerthi Chawla Keerthi Chawla is an Indian actress, who is working in Tamil, Telugu , Hindi and Kannada film industry. She has appeared in some well-known films, such as ''Aadi Aadi or Aadhi or AADI may refer to: Calendars * Aadi, the fourth month of th ...

. The film was a huge commercial success and was remade in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

as '' Jai'' and in Bengali as ''

Surya Surya (; sa, सूर्य, ) is the sun as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta tradition, all of whom are considered as equivalent deities in the Panchayatana puja and a m ...

''. The film won four

Nandi Awards The Nandi Awards are the awards that recognise the excellence in Telugu cinema, Telugu theatre and Telugu television, and Lifetime achievements in Indian cinema. Presented annually by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the award is named after ...

and was released in 118 centres and ran for 100 days in 96 centres.

Plot

The story is set against the backdrop of Rayalaseema. The film opens with Veera Reddy returning from the US after a long gap with his wife and eight-year-old son, Aadi Kesava Reddy. Veera Reddy's deceased father was a well-known factionist in that area and owned a property of . While leaving for the US, Veera Reddy gave the responsibility of managing this land to Nagi Reddy. Now back in India, Veera Reddy realizes that Nagi Reddy is misusing his power. He wants to donate all his land to the 2000 families staying in that village. When Nagi Reddy learns of this charity giveaway, he attacks Veera Reddy, killing him and his wife. Veeranna (

Chalapati Rao Chalapathi Rao (8 May 1944 – 24 December 2022) was an Indian actor and producer known for comedy and villainous roles in Telugu cinema. He acted in different roles in more than 600 films. Personal life and death Rao hailed from Baliparru, K ...

), a trusted lieutenant of Veera Reddy, takes the child Aadi and escapes to Hyderabad. After the murders, Veera Reddy's trusted people are sentenced to fourteen years in prison. Then the film titles roll, ending with the caption '12 years later'. The grown up Aadi is studying in college. He falls in love with Nandu and vice versa. Veeranna has raised Aadi in Hyderabad as a fun-loving boy, but he is also a hot-tempered young man. Later on, it is revealed that Nandu is Nagi Reddy's daughter. Completing her studies, Nandu returns to her hometown at her father's place. After a hiatus of 14 years, Aadi reenters the Rayalaseema along with other trusted members of his father, who are released from jail. Aadi wants to take revenge on Nagi Reddy and get back all the land so that he can distribute it to the villagers. The rest of the film deals with how Aadi achieves his objective.

Cast

as Aadi Kesava Reddy * Keerti Chawla as Nandu *

Ahuti Prasad Ahuti Prasad (born Adusumilli Janardhan Vara Prasad; 2 January 1958 – 4 January 2015) was an Indian actor who worked in Telugu film industry. He was renowned for the wide variety of roles he played, including father-figure, comedian, and anta ...

as Veera Reddy *

Chalapathi Rao Chalapathi Rao (8 May 1944 – 24 December 2022) was an Indian actor and producer known for comedy and villainous roles in Telugu cinema. He acted in different roles in more than 600 films. Personal life and death Rao hailed from Baliparru, K ...

as Veeranna “Babai” *

Rajan P. Dev Rajan P. Dev (20 May 1951 – 29 July 2009) was an Indian film and stage actor. He was born in Cherthala in the Alappuzha district of the former state Thiru-Kochi (present day Kerala). He had acted in over 500 films in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu ...

as Nagi Reddy *

Ali ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam ...

L. B. Sriram L. B. Sriram (born Lanka Bhadradri Sri Ramachandra Moorthy; 30 May 1952) is an Indian actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, and thespian known for his works in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He made his feature film debut with '' ...

as College Principal * M.S. Narayana as Nagi Reddy's assistant *

Rajiv Kanakala Rajeev Kanakala (born 13 November 1968) is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Telugu films and television. He started his career in television serials and short films, where he not only acted but also produced and directed. He is marri ...

as Rajiv *

Raghu Karumanchi Raghu Karumanchi is an Indian actor who appears in Telugu films in comic and supporting roles. He acted in more than 150 films. He also appeared in several television shows, including ''Jabardasth''. Life He was born and brought up in Hyder ...

as Erra Srinu / Sri Krishnananda Swamy * Venu Madhav * Chitram Seenu *

Raghu Babu Yerra Raghu, known professionally as Raghu Babu, is a Telugu comedian well known for his comic expressions and timing. He has worked in many successful films in Telugu industry. He is the eldest son of famous comedian and character actor Giri B ...

Fish Venkat Fish Venkat is a film actor who works in the Telugu film industry. He was born in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. He is also a comedy actor and he strongly uses a Telangana dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , ...

Karate Kalyani Padaala Kalyani (born 31 October), better known as Karate Kalyani, is an Indian character actor, comedian and harikatha artist from Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh. She works predominantly in Telugu cinema. Personal life Padaala Kalyani was bor ...

Ramya Sri B. Ramya Sri is an Indian actress, director, screenwriter, producer, dancer and model, known for her works in Telugu cinema, Kannada cinema, and Tamil cinema, few Malayalam, Hindi, Bhojpuri including softcore and B movies. In 2013 she appear ...

in a guest role

Production

When Vinayak was assisting director Sagar for the film ''Padutha Theeyaga'', producer Bellamkonda Suresh used to observe him. He promised him that he would give Vinayak an opportunity to prove himself. After ''Paaduthaa Theeyagaa'', he was not doing much as an assistant and thus started working on his own scripts. When Suresh offered to make a film with him, he was thrilled and narrated the story to NTR. NTR liked the subject. It was a love story. But Kodali Nani didn't like it. After a couple of days, he narrated another story that was instantly liked and taken to the sets, and that was the story of ''Aadi''. They went to Mumbai to search for a heroine. They considered Aarti Agarwal, but she had just signed on the dotted line for ''Nuvvu Naaku Nacchaav''. They also considered Ayesha Takia, but their cameraman felt that she wasn't the right choice for NTR. Seeing the Fair & Lovely ad, Vinayak felt Trisha would be an ideal choice, but his sister didn't like her. They dropped that idea, too, with a primary belief that if ladies didn't like much, then it will just not work out. While in Mumbai still, they also met Sada also there, but she'd have been so lean beside NTR, they thought, and we dropped her too. During all this, the shooting was already in progress! Thus, we had to find just someone. That's how it all happened.

Box office

''Aadi'' by collected 19 crore share revenue from its theatrical run (with a budget of 2 crores). It became the second highest grossing Telugu movie at that time, second only to

Narasimha Naidu ''Narasimha Naidu'' is a 2001 Indian Telugu-language vigilante action drama film, produced by M.V.Murali Krishna under Venkata Ramana Productions banner and directed by B. Gopal. The film stars Nandamuri Balakrishna, Simran, Preeti Jhangiani, ...

Aadi ran for 50 days in 121 centers and 100 days in a record 96 direct centers.Idlebrain
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Soundtrack

The music was composed by

Mani Sharma Mani may refer to: Geography * Maní, Casanare, a town and municipality in Casanare Department, Colombia * Mani, Chad, a town and sub-prefecture in Chad * Mani, Evros, a village in northeastern Greece * Mani, Karnataka, a village in Dakshina ...

and released by

Aditya Music Aditya Music India Private Limited is a music company in India, which owns the label Aditya Music. It produces music for the Telugu cinema industry and is headquartered at Hyderabad, Telangana. Overview The company was founded by Umesh Gup ...

Awards

;

(in

) * Best First Film of a Director - V. V. Vinayak * Best Editor - Gowtham Raju * Special Jury Award - Jr. NTR * Best Lyricist - Chandrabose

References

External links

* {{V. V. Vinayak 2002 films Telugu films remade in other languages Indian action drama films 2000s Telugu-language films Films directed by V. V. Vinayak Films shot in Visakhapatnam Films about feuds 2002 action drama films Indian films about revenge Films scored by Mani Sharma Films about landlords 2002 directorial debut films