''Once Upon a time there was a warrior'' () is a 2011 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

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama ...

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, a ...

written and directed by Prakash Kovelamudi in his first mainstream film. It is produced by

Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American Film studio, film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action featur ...

with veteran director

K. Raghavendra Rao Kovelamudi Raghavendra Rao (born 23 May 1942) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema besides having directed a few Hindi films. He has garnered four state Nandi Awards and five ...

's A Bellyful of Dreams Entertainment at a budget of 26 crore and stars Siddharth, Shruti Haasan, Baby Harshitha, and

Lakshmi Manchu Manchu Lakshmi Prasanna (born 8 October 1977) is an Indian actress, producer, and television presenter who works in Telugu cinema and worked in American television. The daughter of actor Mohan Babu, Manchu holds a bachelor's degree in Theatre f ...

. ''Once Upon a Warrior'' focuses on the journey of Moksha (Harshitha), a nine-year-old girl with special healing powers, and Yodha (Siddharth), her fierce warrior bodyguard, as they travel to a faraway village to save its children, under the constant menace of the evil witch Irendri (Manchu). This film marks the Telugu debuts of Shruti Haasan and Lakshmi Manchu. It features a musical score by

Salim–Sulaiman Salim–Sulaiman is an Indian score composer duo consisting of siblings Salim Merchant and Sulaiman Merchant. The duo compose music predominantly for Hindi films. Life and early career Salim–Sulaiman's ancestral town is Mundra, Kutch, Gujar ...

, an ensemble soundtrack by Salim–Sulaiman,

M. M. Keeravani Koduri Marakathamani Keeravani (born 4 July 1961; credited as M. M. Keeravani) is an Indian film composer, playback singer, and lyricist, who predominantly works in Telugu cinema along with other languages including Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, and Ma ...

, Koti, and Mickey J Meyer, while cinematography and editing are handled by Soundar Rajan and Sravan Katikaneni, respectively.

Plot

Irendri (

) is a sorceress who terrorizes people of Anga Rajyam. A guru arrests her, doesn't allow her to play with the lives of people, and destroys her. Before she was destroyed, Irendri takes her soul away and traps it in a locket. Though she dies, her soul lives in the locket. Her great-great-granddaughter is Priya ( Shruthi Haasan), and she lives as a gypsy. Priya too possesses magical powers as she was born into a sorceress' family. Yodha ( Siddharth) is a travelling swordsman who always romances women whenever there is opportunity. He is smitten by Priya's beauty and falls in love with her. Sudigundam (

Ravi Babu Ravi Babu is an Indian actor, director, writer and producer in the Telugu film industry. He has written and directed 15 films and starred in over 75 films. Career His work earned an invitation to participate in a course at the Sony Institute ...

) is a local goon, and he attacks the gypsies' village. Yodha prevents him and defeats him in a fight. However, Sudigundam makes a stealth attack, ties Yodha's hands, and sets afire the entire village. In this process, the locket in Priya's neck falls down, and Irendri's soul comes out with the touch of fire. The sarpa sakthi (power of the serpents) tells her that she could gain power with a drop of Priya's blood. So, Irendri takes away Priya and imprisons her. Meanwhile, Yodha turns blind as Sudigundam pierces his eyes. However, Yodha gets saved by a swami (

Subbaraya Sarma Subbbaraya Sarma is an Indian actor known for his works in Telugu cinema, theatre, and television. In a film career spanning more than forty years, Sarma played a variety of roles as a character actor and comedian. In 1989, he received the Tri- ...

) and appoints to save a girl named Moksha (Baby Harshitha), who has divine powers. Irendri, to take revenge, attacks Agartha, a village in Anga Rashtram, and makes the children of the village senseless. Druki (Vallabhaneni Ramji) goes to Pushpagiri to bring Moksha, who could save their children. Druki, Yodha, and Moksha start from Pushpagiri and reach Agartha. At this juncture, the sarpa sakti tells Irendri that Moksha's blood would make her invincible if it was taken by her on lunar eclipse day. So, Irendri sends her men to capture Moksha. But Yodha kills all of them. Irendri again sends Sudigundam, the commander-in-chief, to bring her. Yodha follows them in search of Moksha, finds Priya alive, and saves Moksha and Priya. Moksha brings back Yodha's vision with her divine power. Yodha decides to completely destroy Irendri as she is trying to harm people and succeeds in the climax.

Cast

* Siddharth as Yodha * Shruti Haasan as Priya *

as Irendri *

Subbaraya Sharma Subbbaraya Sarma is an Indian actor known for his works in Telugu cinema, theatre, and television. In a film career spanning more than forty years, Sarma played a variety of roles as a character actor and comedian. In 1989, he received the Tri ...

as Lama * Baby Harshitha as Moksha *

as Sudigundam *

Brahmanandam Kanneganti Brahmanandam (born 1 February 1956), known mononymously as Brahmanandam, is an Indian actor, comedian, impersonator, and voice actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He is particularly known for his comic performa ...

as Jaffa * Ali as Jilebi * Vallabhaneni Ramji as Druki *

Tanikella Bharani Tanikella Bharani (born 14 July 1954) is an Indian actor, screenwriter, poet, playwright and director who works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He has worked as an actor in more than 750 films, including some in Tamil and Hindi; while he was ...

as Kakshira *

Hari Teja Hari Teja is an Indian actress and television presenter, who works in Telugu-language films and television. She is also a professional Kuchipudi dancer. She contested on the reality TV show ''Bigg Boss 1'', and stood in third place. Early ...

as Chitra * Sudarshan as Gundu * Subba Raju as Dhanaiah * Ananth as Kulfi * Gunjan Bakshi as Manju

Production

Pre-production for ''Once Upon a Warrior'' began in June 2009 and the cast was finalized soon after, with the film creating expectations as it marked the debuts of noted star children Prakash Kovelamudi, Shruti Haasan, and Lakshmi Manchu. Furthermore, the film marked a return to a rare genre in Indian cinema: the fantasy adventure. Shooting began in October 2009 and took place across India, whilst scenes were also shot in Turkey. During the production stage, Disney agreed to co-produce with Raghavendra Rao's home banner, a Bellyful of Dreams Entertainment, marking the first South Indian production by Disney.

Release

''Once Upon a Warrior'' was released internationally on 14 January 2011 during the

Sankranti Sankranti ( sa, संक्रान्ति ''saṁkrānti or saṅkramaṇa'') means transmigration of the Sun from one zodiac to another in Indian astronomy. Each Sankranti is marked as the beginning of a month in the sidereal solar calen ...

festival to average reviews and box office collections. Dubbed versions were created in Tamil and

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

, but their release was put on hold indefinitely due to the unexpected failure of the

version. The film is rated PG-13 in North America for "violence and scary images" making it the sixth of ten Disney-branded films to receive the rating.

Home media

The film was released by Buena Vista Home Entertainment on DVD and digital download on 26 July 2011. The release will be produced in DVD widescreen and include a

language track plus English subtitles.

Reception

Radhika Rajamani of '' Rediff.com'' rated the film 3/5, calling it a "visual extravaganza." While praising the technical aspects of the film like photography, the art direction, the editing, and the computer generated imagery (CGI), she felt that the story had a few loopholes. A reviewer from ''

Sify Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology company providing end-to-end ICT solutions including telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation in ...

'' also rated the same and said: "The film opens on a grand scale, as though it is going to set the standards for a fantasy film, but within a few minutes, the tempo dies, dragging the film into a monotonous drama, making the audiences wait in expectation for something to happen. Frame after frame, the curiosity dies."

Awards

;

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 af ...

* 2011 -

Nandi Award for Best Villain The Nandi Award for Best Villain winners since 1985: See also * Nandi Awards * Cinema of Andhra Pradesh References {{DEFAULTSORT:Nandi Award For Best Villain Villain A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine f ...

* 2011 - Nandi Award for Best Special Effects - Phani Eggone ;

CineMAA Awards The CineMAA Awards are presented annually by the Maa TV Group to honour artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Telugu Cinema. The awards were introduced in 2004. The CineMAA Awards are voted for by both the public and a commit ...

* 2012 -

CineMAA Award for Best Female Debut The CineMAA Awards are presented annually by the Maa TV Group to honour artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Telugu Cinema. The awards were introduced in 2004. The CineMAA Awards are voted for by both the public and a commi ...

- Shruti Haasan * 2012 - CineMAA Award for Best Supporting Actress -

;

Filmfare Awards South Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Indian film industry encompassin ...

* 2012 -

Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut – South The Filmfare Best Female Debut is presented by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The ...

- Shruti Haasan ;Other awards * Hyderabad Times Film Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role (Female) -

. * 2012 - SIIMA Award for Best Female Debut (Telugu) - Shruti Haasan

Soundtrack

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 1621994 2011 films 2010s fantasy adventure films 2010s musical fantasy films Indian films with live action and animation Indian fantasy adventure films 2010s Telugu-language films Films scored by M. M. Keeravani Indian musical fantasy films Films scored by Mickey J Meyer Films scored by Koti Disney India films 2011 directorial debut films Films directed by Prakash Kovelamudi