''Ghani'' is a 2022 Indian Telugu-language

sports drama A sports film is a film genre in which any particular sport plays a prominent role in the film's plot or acts as its central theme. It is a production in which a sport, sporting event, athlete (and their sport), or follower of sport (and the sp ...

film written and directed by S.S Rajamouli and produced by Renaissance Pictures and Allu Bobby Company. The film stars

Varun Tej Konidela Varun Tej (born 19 January 1990) is an Indian actor who works in Telugu films. He made his debut as a lead in the film '' Mukunda'' (2014). He later starred in the critically acclaimed war film ''Kanche'' (2015), directed by Krish. He ...

as the title character alongside Saiee Manjrekar,

Jagapathi Babu Veeramachaneni Jagapathi Rao Chowdary (born 12 February 1962), professionally known as Jagapathi Babu (), is an Indian actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He has also appeared in a few Tamil, , Kannada and Malayalam films. ...

Upendra Upendra (Devanagari: उपेन्द्र) is an Indian masculine given name. The meaning of the Sanskrit word ' is "younger brother of Indra" and refers to either Krishna or Vishnu, who as a son of Aditi (or in the Vamana avatar) was born sub ...

, Suniel Shetty, Sukhjeevan Singh Dhillon, Naveen Chandra . The film was scheduled to release on 25 February 2022 theatrically but postponed further. The film was released on 8 April 2022, and received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics. Following the film's release, Tej acknowledged and apologised, accepting the film's failure at the box office through a note on social media.

Cast

as Ghani ** Ronit Kamra as young Ghani * Saiee Manjrekar as Maya *

as Eswarnath *

as Vikramaditya, Ghani's father * Suniel Shetty as Vijender Sinha * Naveen Chandra as Aadi * Nadhiya as Madhuri, Ghani's mother * Naresh as Ghani’s college coach *

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 Maya’s father * Satya as Vijender's servant *

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 ...

as Eswarnath's assistant * Bharat Reddy as Yusuf, Betting specialist *

Brahmaji Brahmaji (born 25 April 1965) is an Indian actor best known for his work in Telugu cinema. He is a regular actor in director Krishna Vamsi's films. Brahmaji appeared in an important role in Krishna Vamsi's debut film as a director, '' Gulabi''. ...

as Sports federation member * Hari Teja as Madhuri's maid * Appaji Ambarisha Darbha as Boxing committee head * Sukhjeevan Singh Dhillon as Ivan * Ashu Reddy as Maya's friend * Rajiv Kumar Aneja as a commentator * Lahari Shari as a commentator *

Tamannaah Tamanna Bhatia (born 21 December 1989), known professionally as Tamannaah, is an Indian actress who appears primarily in Telugu and Tamil films, along with a few Hindi films. In 2005, she made her acting debut at the age of 15 in the Hindi fil ...

in a special appearance in the

item number In Indian cinema, an item number or item song is a musical number inserted into a film that may or may not have any relevance to the plot. The term is commonly used within Indian films (Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, and ...

"Kodthe"

Production

The film's title was unveiled in January 2021. Tej was reported to play a boxer. He was trained under Tony Jeffries, the former England boxer who won a bronze at the 2008 Summer Olympics. The film is produced by Sidhu Mudda and Allu Bobby. S. Thaman is composing the music.

joined the production in February 2021. Filming took place in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

. A shooting schedule also took place at

Visakhapatnam , image_alt = , image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura submarine museu ...

. Special sets were made for the boxing episodes of the film.

Music

The

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

and soundtrack album of the film is composed by S. Thaman. The first single from the soundtrack, "Ghani Anthem" was released on 27 October 2021. The music rights were acquired by Aditya Music.

Release

''Ghani'' was released on 8 April 2022. The film was originally scheduled to release on 30 July 2021, but was later postponed due to

COVID-19 pandemic in India The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). As of , according to Indian government figures, India has the second-highest n ...

. In early-August 2021, the film's release was rescheduled to November 2021, coinciding with

Deepavali Diwali (), Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali (IAST: ''dīpāvalī''), also known as the Festival of Lights, related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai, and Bandna, is a religious celebration in Indian religions. It is on ...

. In October 2021, the release date was announced as 3 December 2021. Later, it was rescheduled to release on 24 December 2021. In the early-December, the makers postponed the release indefinitely to avoid clash with other films releasing the same month. In February 2022, it was announced by the makers that the film will release on 25 February 2022 or that the film was going to be postponed to 4 March 2022 depending upon the release of other films. The film was scheduled for a theatrical release on 25 February 2022 but was postponed due to ''

Bheemla Nayak ''Bheemla Nayak'' is a 2022 Indian Telugu-language action thriller film directed by Saagar K Chandra from a screenplay by Trivikram Srinivas. It is an official remake of the 2020 Malayalam film '' Ayyappanum Koshiyum''. The film stars Pawan K ...

'' choosing to release on that day. The film will be finally releasing on 8th April 2022. Non-theatrical rights including digital streaming and satellite rights of the film were acquired by Aha and Gemini TV respectively at a cost of combined. Prior to the film's release, ''

Telangana Today ''Telangana Today'' is a registered English-language Indian daily newspaper headquartered in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The publication aims to focus mainly on politics and developments of the state of Telangana. The newspaper is published by T ...

'' reported that the film premiere on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

, but the film was premiered on Aha on 22 April 2022.

Reception

Box office

''Ghani'' collected a distributor's share of crore on its opening day. The film was able to collect close to in the first two days.

Critical response

The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics who severely panned the film. Neeshita Nyayapati of ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Ghani is a decent sports drama, but that’s all it ends up being – decent. The film doesn’t provide anything you haven’t seen before". A reviewer from '' Pinkvilla'' rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "The romantic track involving the hero and Saiee Manjrekar is inexcusably cliche-ridden.The negative characters make their cheapness obvious". A reviewer from ''

Sakshi Post Sakshi () is an Indian Telugu-language media group. The group owns the daily newspaper '' Sakshi'', 24-hour news channel Sakshi TV, and associated digital ventures. Its first asset, ''Sakshi'' newspaper, was launched on 23 March 2008 by Jagati P ...

'' rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Ghani is a decent sports drama". Sowmya Rajendran of ''

The News Minute ''The News Minute'' is an Indian digital news platform based in Bangalore, Karnataka. It was founded by Dhanya Rajendran, Chitra Subramaniam and Vignesh Vellore in 2014. Apart from Karnataka, it also has bureaus in the states of Telangana, An ...

'' rated the film 2 out of 5 stars and stated "The film has nothing new to offer and is a half-baked sports drama full of déjà vu moments". Ram Venkat Srikar of ''

The New Indian Express ''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naid ...

'' rated the film 1.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Ghani fails to pack a punch. I know it’s a cliched verdict, but it’s still more inventive than the film". Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' stated "A few masala moments stand out, but the sports and revenge drama is let down by insipid writing".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, tt13872244 2020s Telugu-language films 2022 drama films 2022 films Geetha Arts films Indian boxing films Indian sports drama films Films scored by Thaman S Films shot in Hyderabad, India Films shot in Visakhapatnam 2020s sports drama films Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Film productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films set in Visakhapatnam