''Leader'' is a 2010 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

political drama A political drama can describe a play, film or TV program that has a political component, whether reflecting the author's political opinion, or describing a politician or series of political events. Dramatists who have written political dramas in ...

film written and directed by

Sekhar Kammula Sekhar Kammula (born 4 February 1972) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer who works in Telugu cinema. He has garnered two Filmfare Awards South, and six state Nandi Awards for his directional works. Sekhar Kammula was among the ...

, and produced by

AVM Productions AVM Productions is an Indian film production studio founded by A. V. Meiyappan. It is the final oldest survived studio in India. The filming studios are located in Vadapalani, Chennai. It has produced over 300 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, ...

. It stars debutant

Rana Daggubati Ramanaidu "Rana" Daggubati (; born 14 December 1984) is an Indian actor and producer known primarily for his work in Telugu language films, in addition to Hindi and Tamil languages. Rana is described as one of the few actors in India who were ...

alongside

Richa Gangopadhyay Richa Gangopadhyay Langella ( Gangopadhyay ; born 20 March 1986) is an Indian-born American former actress and model who predominantly appeared in Telugu language films. She resides at Portland, Oregon. She was cast along with the prominent ...

Priya Anand Priya Anand (born 17 September 1986) is an Indian actress and model who predominantly appears in Tamil films. She has also appeared in Telugu, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam films. After pursuing higher studies in the US, she began a career in ...

Suhasini Maniratnam Suhasini Maniratnam (born 15 August 1961) known mononymously as Suhasini, is an Indian actress, director, producer and writer in the Tamil film industry. She has worked as an actress in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. She made her ...

, Suman,

Subbaraju Penmetsa Subbaraju is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Telugu cinema,as well as Tamil cinema.Subbaraju has played a variety of roles, from negative to supporting characters. His most notable works include '' Amma Nanna O' Tamil Ammay ...

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 ...

and

Harsha Vardhan Harsha Vardhan is an Indian actor, comedian and screenwriter known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He has also worked in a few Tamil and Hindi language films, in addition to television. He is known for his performance in Telugu ...

. The plot follows Arjun Prasad (Daggubati) who becomes the

chief minister of Andhra Pradesh The chief minister of Andhra Pradesh is the chief executive of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chi ...

succeeding his deceased father and his struggle to fight the corruption plaguing the political system. The film features music by

Mickey J. Meyer Mickey J. Meyer is an Indian music composer and singer known for his works predominantly in Telugu Cinema. He has received two Filmfare Awards South, and three state Nandi Awards for the Best Music Direction. An alumnus of Trinity College of ...

with cinematography by Vijay C. Kumar and editing by

Marthand K. Venkatesh Marthand K. Venkatesh is an Indian film editor who mostly works for Telugu films, and is the winner of four Nandi Awards. Life and career Venkatesh is son of noted Telugu film editor K. A. Marthand. He used to assist his father in editing for ...

. It was released on 19 February 2010. ''Leader'' is listed among the "25 Greatest Telugu Films Of The Decade" by ''

Film Companion Anupama Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist, film critic and director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. She is also the founder and editor of the digital platform Film Companion, which offers a curated look at cinema. She has written sev ...

''.

Plot

Sanjeevayya, the

Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh The chief minister of Andhra Pradesh is the chief executive of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chi ...

is dead. His last wish is that his son Arjun Prasad should succeed him as the next Chief Minister. However, Arjun's cousin Dhanunjay has aims to become the Chief Minister instead. Arjun is approached by Ali who has given 10

crores A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...

to Sanjeevayya to resolve a land dispute in Ali's favour. Arjun finds about his father's corruption, and his mother Rajeswari Devi validates it while sharing Sanjeevayya's desire for a casteless and corruption-less government. Arjun's uncle (Sanjeevayya's elder brother) Mahadevayya, whom he refers to as ''Peddaina'', tolerates corruption as long as it helps his family stay in power. Arjun decides to fulfill his father's dream and enrolls Ali to quietly win the support of his party's

MLAs The Max Launch Abort System (MLAS) was a proposed alternative to the Maxime Faget-invented "tractor" launch escape system (LES) that was planned for use by NASA for its Orion (spacecraft), Orion spacecraft in the event an Ares I malfunction du ...

and news reporter Ratna Prabha joins them. Arjun bribes his way to win support from MLAs and ministers and is elected Chief Minister by them. An angry Dhanunjay attempts to assassinate Arjun and is asked to resign from his ministerial post. Arjun encounters resistance from his own party in his drive to eliminate corruption and plots to win the support of Alliance Party leader Munnuswami's daughter Archana by making her fall for him. His attempts to woo her are successful and he saves his government while Archana's parts away from him upon realizing that she has been used as a ploy. As a condition for Munnuswami's support, he lets an MLA's son go scot-free, even though the son was accused of raping and murdering of a young tribal girl. His mother Rajeswari Devi rebukes Arjun's move and warns the step as compromises that lead to corruption. That same night, she dies. Arjun resolves to go ahead with his corruption elimination drive and resigns the same evening while creating sensation in the media for exposing corruption. Arjun wins the ensuing election after leaving his uncle's party and establishing a new party. His effort wins back Archana's support.

Cast

as Arjun Prasad, a man who becomes the Chief Minister succeeding his deceased father *

as Archana Prasad, a TV channel reporter *

as Ratna Prabha, a news reporter whom Arjun sends to help him win the support of his party's MLAs *

as Rajeswari Devi, Arjun's mother * Suman as CM Sanjeevayya, Arjun's father who gets assassinated *

as Dhanunjay, Arjun's cousin who attempts to assassinate him *

Kota Srinivasa Rao Kota Srinivasa Rao (born 10 July 1942) is an Indian character actor known for his work primarily in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He has also starred in a few films in Tamil, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam. As a former politician, Rao has s ...

as Mahadevayya (Peddayana), Arjun's uncle and Sanjeevayya's elder brother *

as Chief Secretary Sharma *

as Ali, Arjun's personal secretary *

Rao Ramesh Raavu Ramesh Rao (born 25 May 1968) is an Indian actor known for his works primarily in Telugu cinema, Telugu theatre, and television. He is the son of veteran actor Rao Gopal Rao. Rao Ramesh initially appeared in ''Seema Simham'' (2002), ''Okk ...

as Mavayya, Arjun's uncle *

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 Munnuswami, Archana's father and the Alliance Party leader *

Gollapudi Maruti Rao Gollapudi Maruti Rao (14 April 1939 – 12 December 2019) was an Indian actor, screenwriter, dramatist, playwright, columnist and dialogue writer known for his works in Telugu cinema, Telugu theatre and Telugu Literature. Rao acted in over 250 ...

* Narsing Yadav * Rani Rudrama * Shatru * Vai Sista in a cameo role * Udaya Bhanu as

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 Be ...

"Rajashekara"

Critical reception

''Leader'' opened to rave reviews from critics. A ''

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 ...

'' critic gave three stars of five, noting "Another lineage star Rana Daggubati takes his first bow at the Box Office with an inspiring political saga, he puts in a surprisingly mature performance (for a debutant) and shines in his role of a savvy young CEO of a US-based company who turns a conniving politician with effortless ease." Radhika Rajamani from ''

Rediff.com Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 e ...

'' also gave a three star rating and said "The film is a relevant take on contemporary politics in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Performance-wise, Sekhar scores. His choice

Suhasini Suhasini Maniratnam (born 15 August 1961) known mononymously as Suhasini, is an Indian actress, director, producer and writer in the Tamil film industry. She has worked as an actress in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. She made her ...

as Arjun's mother is good. She brings grace and dignity to her role. An impressive debut, indeed.

looks pretty and charming. Harshavardhan (who plays Ali) and

(Ratna Prabha) are competent in their roles.

Mickey J Meyer Mickey J. Meyer is an Indian music composer and singer known for his works predominantly in Telugu Cinema. He has received two Filmfare Awards South, and three state Nandi Awards for the Best Music Direction. An alumnus of Trinity College of M ...

's music is good too." 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 ...

'' explains "The technical aspects of the film are highly impressive with superb cinematography, excellent music and terrific background score. The first half is gripping, giving some promising moments to the audience. But, the second half slips into monotony thanks to the slipshod treatment to the political subject." However it praised the lead performances, saying "Rana has certainly lived up to the expectations of the audiences with his looks and thoroughly trained histrionics."

Soundtrack

The soundtrack has music composed by

. The music was released on 22 November 2009.

References

External links

* * Leader Telugu full movie in ZEE5 . https://www.zee5.com/movies/details/leader/0-0-234177 {{DEFAULTSORT:Leader film 2010 films Telugu films remade in other languages 2010s political drama films Films about politicians Films set in Hyderabad, India Films shot in Hyderabad, India Films scored by Mickey J Meyer AVM Productions films Indian political thriller films Indian political drama films Films directed by Sekhar Kammula 2010s Telugu-language films