''Ism'' is a 2016 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 film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

produced by

Nandamuri Kalyan Ram Nandamuri Kalyan Ram (born 5 July 1978) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Telugu cinema. He is the son of actor-politician Nandamuri Harikrishna. Ram is best known for his roles in action films such as ''Athanokkade'', ''Hare Ram ...

under N. T. R. Arts banner and directed by

Puri Jagannadh Petla "Puri" Jagannadh (born 28 September 1966) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer, who works primarily in the Telugu film Industry. He made his directorial debut with the Telugu film '' Badri'' starring Pawan Kalyan, Renu ...

. It stars

Aditi Arya Aditi Arya (born 18 September 1993) is an Indian actress, model, research analyst and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Femina Miss India World in 2015. She represented India at Miss World 2015 pageant. Early life Arya was born in C ...

and

Jagapati 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. ...

. The film marks Aditi Arya's debut as an actress, while Kalyan Ram's son Nandamuri Sourya Ram also makes his debut as a child artist. The music was composed by

Anup Rubens Anup Rubens, born Enoch Rubens, is an Indian film music composer who predominantly works in Telugu cinema. He has received the South Filmfare Awards and Nandhi Awards by Government of Andra pradesh. Rubens works include ''Seetharama Kalyana'' ...

. Junaid Siddiqui, Mukesh G and Johnny Shaik handled the editing, cinematography and Art direction respectively. It was shot in August 2016 in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, Spain. The film follows Kalyan Ram, a

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

-based fighter who tries to woo Alia, the daughter of a gangster named Javed Ibrahim. Kalyan and Javed become friends without revealing their identities to each other, but after a series of events, it is revealed that Kalyan is an undercover journalist who exposes the corrupt with the help of his team of hackers. He soon becomes the target of Javed and corrupt politicians as he returns to India and resumes his mission. The film was released theatrically on 21 October 2016.

Plot

Javed Ibrahim is a high-profile

gangster A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...

who is in hiding in

islands with his gang and daughter, Alia, due to several of his scams being exposed in India. Kalyan Ram happens to see her during a fight at an

illegal Illegal, or unlawful, typically describes something that is explicitly prohibited by law, or is otherwise forbidden by a state or other governing body. Illegal may also refer to: Law * Violation of law * Crime, the practice of breaking the ...

fight club and falls head over heels for her. He even befriends Javed Bhai after offering him local

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

Karim Beedis. However, neither of them discloses their identities to the other. With the help of marriage broker Don Bosco, Javed Bhai gets Alia engaged to the Prince of

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. Meanwhile, Javed Bhai helps Kalyan woo a girl he likes, unaware that the girl is his daughter. Alia slowly falls for Kalyan Ram and informs Javed Bhai, who, realizing her lover is Kalyan, attempts to prove to her that he is cheating her. However, on seeing them, Kalyan runs away from there, eventually jumping into the sea. Meanwhile, in India, ''The Grand Leakage Company'', a website/company, reveals Javed Bhai's whereabouts, and by seeing through the plan, Javed Bhai and Alia realize that the founder of the company, who has been unknown for years, is none other than Kalyan Ram. Alia, who is still madly in love with him, runs away from their yacht and escapes to India. Meanwhile, Kalyan, whose actual name is Sathya Marthand, is an undercover journalist whose father, Dasaradh Rao was handicapped by a criminal contractor when the former, a journalist, exposed the latter's use of faulty cement to construct buildings. Sathya, in retaliation, attempted to kill the contractor but realized that the idea of a crime is what encourages corruption. He, hence, is on a journey to fight corruption. He gets information about ''Bank of Paradise'', a Tenerife-based bank owned by Javed Bhai, which holds over a billiard rupees. ''The Grand Leakage Company'' has employed thousands of anonymous journalism students, who together, take on corruption in India. Alia lands in India and tracks down Sathya's address, threatening to kill his parents and herself if he does not return home. Sathya returns but tells her that he does not have any feelings for her. However, his parents, who have grown fond of Alia, refuse to let her go and try forcing Sathya to wed her. After gathering details about Sathya, Javed Bhai informs the police about his activities, including his plan to wipe off the entire money present at ''Bank of Paradise''. They are almost successful, but the police catch Sathya, and his 4 friends, who were assigned the task of completing the operation, brutally murdered by local goons. After giving a stellar session in court, the public realizes Sathya's goodness, including his craving for justice for all families below the poverty line. He even lets out the code of the accounts in the bank, letting his co "hacktivists" hack into the ''Bank of Paradise'', dividing the money equally into the bank account of every above-poverty line Indian citizen, requesting them to give at least 10% of their money to below poverty line farmers and families, else they will be the reason their country gets ruined. He is then taken to be escorted to the Central Jail. En Route, they are stopped and Sathya is kidnapped by Javed Bhai's men. Javed Bhai tells a reluctant Sathya to marry Alia but is double-crossed by his henchmen who are ordered to kill Sathya by Minister Kotilinga, who was also involved in Javed's scams. Javed and Sathya take down all the goons. The film ends with Javed returning to Tenerife to continue his business, after having dropped Alia and Sathya in

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

, who then go undercover again.

Cast

as Sathya Marthand / Kalyan Ram *

as Alia Khan *

as Javed Ibrahim / Javed Bhai *

Vennela Kishore Bokkala Kishore Kumar (born 19 September 1977), known professionally as Vennela Kishore, is an Indian actor and director who works in Telugu-language films. Known for his comic roles, he was given the moniker "Vennela" after his first feature f ...

as Sathya's friend *

Posani Krishna Murali Posani Krishna Murali (born 22 January 1958) is an Indian screenwriter, actor, director and producer who primarily works in Telugu cinema. He worked as a writer for over 150 Telugu films and directed a number of films. In 2009, he also conte ...

as Minister Kotilingalu *

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. ...

as Don Bosco *

Jaya Prakash Reddy Jaya Prakash Reddy (8 May 1946 – 8 September 2020) was an Indian actor who predominantly appeared in Telugu films. Born in Sirvel of Andhra Pradesh, he came into the limelight with the film ''Samarasimha Reddy'' (1999) where he played the ro ...

as MLA JP *

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 Dasaradharamaiah *

Easwari Rao Easwari Rao is an Indian actress who has worked in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada cinema. She played the lead roles from 1990 to 1999. She started to play supporting and character roles from 2000 onwards. Personal life She married di ...

as Satyavathi / Ammaji *

Srikanth Iyyengar Srikanth Krishnaswamy Iyengar is an Indian actor who works in Telugu-language films. He is a medical doctor by profession and turned actor due to passion towards the acting. Srikanth has acted in films like '' Veerapan, Dear Comrade, Mehabooba, C ...

as Police Officer Trivedi *

Shatru ''Shatru/Birodh'' is a 1986 Hindi/Bengali-language film starring Rajesh Khanna in the lead in a role playing the role of an inspector in a remote village. The film was an Indo-Bangladeshi venture and the music was written by R.D. Burman. The ...

as Javed Bhai's henchmen *

Ajay Ghosh Ajay Ghosh is an Indian actor who primarily appears in Telugu and Tamil-language films in negative roles. He is known for his roles in ''Jyothi Lakshmi'' (2015) and ''Visaranai'' (2016), '' Mookuthi Amman'' (2020) and '' Pushpa: The Rise'' (2021 ...

as Reporter *

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 ...

*Ravi Awana

Soundtrack

Music composed by

. Music released on ADITYA Music Company. Audio was launched on 5 October 2016, held at

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 (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

Nandamuri Harikrishna Nandamuri Harikrishna (2 September 1956 – 29 August 2018) was an Indian actor, producer, and politician. He served as the Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house the Indian Parliament representing the state of Andhra Pradesh ...

NTR,

Dil Raju Velamakucha Venkata Ramana Reddy (born 17 December 1970), known professionally as Dil Raju, is an Indian film producer and distributor known for his works in Telugu cinema. He has also financed some Tamil and Hindi films and owns the production ...

and many other celebrities attended the function. Hindi Dubbed Soundtrack launched on 14 September 2019 on Digital Music Platforms.

Reception

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 ...

gave 2.5/5 by making a remark about the movie that "As grand as the story sounds, the movie is quite predictably every Puri film ever -- an unconquerable hero, a larger than life conspiracy, a bimbo who falls in love as a result of stalking."

References

External links

* * * {{Puri Jagannadh 2016 films 2010s Telugu-language films 2016 action films Indian action films Indian vigilante films Journalism adapted into films Films directed by Puri Jagannadh Films scored by Anoop Rubens Films about journalism Films about journalists Films about whistleblowing Films about social issues in India Films about corruption in India Films set in the 2010s Films set in the Canary Islands Films set in India Works about computer hacking Films shot in Spain