''Murari'' is a 2001 Indian Telugu-language supernatural family drama film written and directed by

Krishna Vamsi Pasupuleti Venkata Bangarraju, know professionally as Krishna Vamsi, is an Indian film director, producer and choreographer known for his work in Telugu cinema. Vamsi started his career as an assistant director to Ram Gopal Varma. He made his d ...

. The film features

Mahesh Babu Ghattamaneni Mahesh Babu (born 9 August 1975) is an Indian actor, producer, media personality, and philanthropist who works mainly in Telugu cinema. He has appeared in more than 25 films, and won several accolades including, eight Nandi Awar ...

in the

title role The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The title of ...

along with

Sonali Bendre Sonali Bendre (born 1 January 1975) is an Indian actress primarily known for her work in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu films. She did modelling assignments prior to making her acting debut with '' Aag'' (1994), which won her the Filmfare Award for N ...

Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...

, Sukumari,

Kaikala Satyanarayana Kaikala Satyanarayana (25 July 1935 – 23 December 2022) was an Indian actor, producer, director, and politician who predominantly worked in Telugu cinema. He appeared in over 750 films and served as the Member of Parliament in the 11th Lok Sa ...

, and

Gollapudi Maruthi 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 25 ...

. The film marks Bendre's Telugu debut.

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 ...

composed the music, while Ram Prasad handled the cinematography. Peter Hein debuted as action choreographer with this film. The film marked the last on-screen appearance of veteran Telugu actor

Dhulipala Seetarama Sastry Dhulipala Sitarama Sastry (24 September 1921 – 13 April 2007), known mononymously by the surname Dhulipala, was an Indian actor and thespian, known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He was noted for playing mythological roles, p ...

. The film revolves around the happy-go-lucky Murari whose

Zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as ...

ancestors have been victims of Goddess

Durga Durga ( sa, दुर्गा, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around c ...

's generational curse since the mid-19th century. Every 48 years, the family's heirs lose their life in their early 30s due to this curse. No matter how many religious rituals are being performed since ages, the family loses its heirs. In this generation, Murari is the one to be succumbed by the curse. The film deals with Murari's redemption to overcome the curse through his spiritual will, and through his grandmother's self-sacrifice. The film released on 17 February 2001 to positive reviews, was commercially successful and was declared a ''Super Hit'' at the box office. ''Murari'' has been dubbed into

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

as ''Rowdy Cheetah'' in 2015. It won three

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 ...

including Second Best Feature Film. The film was remade in

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

as ''Gopi'' (2006).

Synopsis

Due to a curse on a family, a family member gets killed every forty-eight years. At the beginning of another such cycle, when a young man's life is at stake, his grandmother makes a huge sacrifice to revoke the curse.

Plot

In nineteenth century, during the Amavasya phase, considered to be inauspicious, a greedy alcoholic

intrudes the temple to steal the idol of principal deity

, made of

Panchaloha ''Panchaloha'' ( sa, पञ्चलोह), also called ''Pañcadhātu'' ( sa, पञ्चधातु, lit=five metals), is a term for traditional five-metal alloys of sacred significance, used for making Hindu temple ''murti'' and jewelry. ...

to repay the loans, he had borrowed from Britishers. Therefore, the divine powers kill the Britishers and Zamindar, conjuring a mythical curse on the Zamindar's family which results in the deaths of the family's heirs for every forty-eight years. In 2001, Murari is the motherless youngest child of the Zamindar's family, whose grandmother Sabari had lost her husband forty-eight years ago due to the curse, is concerned about the next victim of it. Murari, named after his late grandfather, receives utmost love and respect from his family comprising his father Sathipandu; Sabari; elder brothers Seenayya, Baachi and Soori; their wives and kids. Murari was raised and adored by his eldest sister-in-law Gopi, whom he admires. Murari's family is at odds with Gopi's maternal family headed by her uncle and foster father Chanti as the latter's alcoholic son Rambabu had created issues for them at Gopi's wedding. Therefore, Gopi is only allowed to visit her family alone and the others do not talk with her family. Vasundhara "Vasu" is Chanti's daughter who is a city-bred agricultural student. Murari perceives that Gopi had intentionally refused to have children as she feared that she might lose her affection for Murari if she had her own progeny, while the society kept humiliating her for being infertile. Creating a scenario, Murari accompanies Gopi to her village for her happiness, flirts with Vasu and falls in love with her. After a feud with Rambabu, Murari leaves to his house while leaving Gopi for a few days to complete the pending rituals of a Vratam. Meanwhile, Murari's family priest realizes that Murari would be the next victim of curse but hides it from Sabari. Vasu leaves to

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 ...

as she misses Murari. Upon Sathipandu's insistence, who knows about his feelings for Vasu, Murari goes to Hyderabad, confesses his feelings for Vasu, who unbeknownst to her family, comes to stay with Murari and family for a few days under pretext of a research as per Sathipandu's plan. Eventually, Murari convinces everyone to accept his relationship with Vasu. When he informs Sabari and requests her to accept his prospective marriage with Vasu, she is about to accept but the priest reveals about Murari's impending demise due to the curse and asks her to stop the marriage as Vasu would be widowed at a young age. Sabari obliges and objects to Vasu and Murari's marriage without revealing the truth. Misinterpreting this last-minute decision of Sabari to be revenge for the family feud, Rambabu hastily arranges for Vasu to marry Bullabayi, a mute and greedy man. Sabari has Murari perform several rituals to get rid of the curse while Chanti arrives at the temple and informs everyone of Vasu's destined wedding. Murari decides to leave for rescuing her but Sabari stops him due to which the family confronts her and accuses her of avenging the feud between the families using Vasu. However, the priest bursts out the truth about the curse and Sabari's attempts to protect Murari from the curse and that her intention behind rejecting the wedding was to preserve Vasu's future from being spent as a widow. The family is shocked upon hearing this while Murari vows to return safe and leaves to bring Vasu, who escapes from the house with the help of her mother and other ladies. Murari saves Vasu when she is being chased by Bullabayi but gets stabbed by the latter. Hiding his wound and carrying an unconscious Vasu, Murari heads to the temple and proceeds to complete the pending ritual Abhishekam. Soori is notified of Murari's wound and fetches doctors without informing the family of it. Rambabu arrives and beats Murari with a stick while he is carrying the idol of Durga but the idol undergoes ''Rakthabhishekam'', i.e, Abhishekam with blood. Vasu regains her consciousness and informs Gopi that Murari was stabbed. Murari completes the ritual and faints. However, as expected, Murari's condition doesn't stabilize fretting the family. To save Murari and to ensure his happiness, Sabari leaves to the river and drowns herself, giving herself as a sacrifice to satisfy the Goddess. As a result, the curse is nullified; Murari recovers. After a few days, Murari and Vasu get married and seek blessings from the Goddess and late Sabari's portrait.

Cast

as Murari *

as Vasundhara, Murari's love interest *

as Gopala Krishna Maheshwari aka Gopi, Murari's eldest sister-in-law and namesake mother * Sukumari as Sabari, Murari's paternal grandmother *

as Sathipandu, Murari's father *

as Chanti, Vasu's father and Gopi's foster father *

Annapurna Annapurna (; ne, अन्नपूर्ण) is a mountain situated in the Annapurna mountain range of Gandaki Province, north-central Nepal. It is the tenth highest mountain in the world at above sea level and is well known for the diffic ...

as Chanti's wife and Vasu's mother * Sudha as Ammulu, Gopi and Vasu's cousin *

Prasad Babu Prasad Babu is an Indian actor who acts in predominantly Telugu films and also TV serials. Filmography * '' Punadhirallu'' * '' Anthuleni Katha'' * ''Mana Voori Pandavulu'' (1978) * ''I Love You'' (1979) * ''Aarani Mantalu'' (1980) * '' Bobb ...

as Seenayya, Murari's eldest brother and Gopi's husband *

Sivaji Raja Sivaji Raja (born 26 February 1962) is an Indian actor who primarily appears in Telugu films Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Telugu language, wid ...

as Soori, Murari's third elder brother * Anitha Chowdary as Soori's wife and Murari's third eldest sister-in-law * Chinna as Baachi, Murari's second eldest brother * Hema as Baachi's wife and Murari's second eldest sister-in-law *

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 Rambabu, Vasu's brother and Gopi's foster brother * Ravi Babu as Bullabbayi, Vasu's fiancée *

Lakshmipati Lakshmipati () is an epithet of the Hindu deity Vishnu. It refers to his status of being the consort of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi, as well as being associated with her attribute of prosperity. Legend After the events of the Samudra Manthana, ...

as Vaali, Bullabbayi's sidekick * Dhulipala as a Sage * Prakash Raj as

, Murari's ancestor who tried to steal the idol of

* M. S. Narayana as Zamindar's clerk who tried to stop him * Naga Babu as Murari's ancestor *

Achyuth Kunapareddy Achyutha Vara Prasad, better known as Achyuth (1960 – 26 December 2002) was an Indian actor who primarily worked in Telugu films and television. He acted in over 50 films and 50 television shows. His accolades include five N ...

as Sabari's husband and Murari's paternal grandfather

Production

Development

When

visited a temple in a village, he came to know about a very famous person there whose three sons died under suspicious circumstances at regular intervals 4 years back. When he spoke to the local people, they said that the man killed a worker from lower cadre by hiring some goons and the wife of that murdered person came to this person's house and cursed that all his three sons would be dying within six months. After listening to them, he was intrigued by all these incidents. As a part of his research, he visited temples and observed the architecture, sculptures and also read books like ''

Autobiography of a Yogi ''Autobiography of a Yogi'' is an autobiography of Paramahansa Yogananda (5 January 1893 – 7 March 1952) first published in 1946. Paramahansa Yogananda was born as Mukunda Lal Ghosh in Gorakhpur, India, into a Bengali Hindu family. ...

'' etc. He said in an interview, "I met highly qualified people like Sirivennela Sitaramasastri to enhance my knowledge in various things. I also studied the visions of our ancestors, who during their time have designed things like missiles, television, aircrafts etc." He added, "We always have an answer for any questions that start with 'what', 'how' and 'when'. But we do not have any reason or answer for questions starting with 'why'. I had this kind of backdrop in my mind and wanted to make a film. When a film in the combination of

and Krishna Vamsi was announced, I though I should make all those mystic questions get a representation in this film." He wanted to incorporate Telugu culture and tradition with a festive mood and thus used a joint-family backdrop. Influenced by

Hrishikesh Mukherjee Hrishikesh Mukherjee (30 September 1922 – 27 August 2006) was an Indian film director, editor and writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of Indian cinema. Popularly known as ''Hrishi-da'', he directed 42 films during his ca ...

's 1971 film '' Anand'', Krishna Vamsi wanted to kill Mahesh Babu's character in this film as he felt that except ''Anand'', no other film introduced a hero who would be dying very soon. During the story discussions, when he said the same to his team, none accepted. He aimed to go in reverse trend and form the film's screenplay as story writers used to create a problem and then introduced the hero to solve it in

Telugu cinema Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Telugu cinema is based in Film Nagar, ...

. After meeting Mahesh Babu, Krishna Vamsi decided to use the story of

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...

for the family part. He clarified that it was not a true adaptation of Lord Krishna's life but he got inspired by the characterizations in Krishna's story. According to Krishna Vamsi, the near-death situations Murari faces in the film are inspired from the attacks of ''

rakshasas Rakshasas ( sa, राक्षस, IAST: : Pali: ''rakkhaso'') lit. 'preservers' are a race of usually malevolent demigods prominently featured in Hindu mythology. According to the Brahmanda Purana, the rakshasas were created by Brahma when ...

'' on

and the fatal attack in the climax was inspired from Lord Krishna's death in the hands of a ''

Yadava The Yadava (literally, descended from Yadu) were an ancient Indian people who believed to be descended from Yadu, a legendary king of Chandravamsha lineage. The community was formed of various clans, being the Abhira, Andhaka, Vrishni, and ...

'' hunter. Sri Sita Ramachandra Swamy temple at Ammapally near

Shamshabad Shamshabad is a city in the Indian state of Telangana. It is located in Shamshabad mandal of Rajendranagar revenue division. The international airport of Hyderabad is located here. History In former times the area was known as Sedanti village, ...

was selected for filming key scenes related to the curse part of the story and the temple gained prominence after the film's release. A strong belief in the film industry emerged that a film with scenes shot at the temple will do well at the box-office.

Casting

acknowledged that this film was a crucial one in his career and noted in 2012 that the character of Murari was his favourite role.

made her debut in Telugu with this film and it was her first collaboration with Krishna Vamsi.

, Deekshitulu and

were a part of the film's principal cast. Ravi Babu played a negative role in the film. Actress Sukumari was selected to play the character of Sabari, Mahesh Babu's grandmother in the film which was one of her widely remembered role in Telugu cinema. Veteran film actor and religious guru

made a cameo appearance which was his last film. Prakash Raj played a cameo as the evil

zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as ...

who was the first victim of the curse while Deekshitulu played the role of the temple's priest named Seshayya.

Characters

Regarding Mahesh's character in the film, Krishna Vamsi said, "During that time, I met Mahesh Babu a couple of times. He has a 'mugdha manohara mohana roopam' meaning that Mahesh has very beautiful look which can mesmerize anyone. I was impressed to such an extent that I wanted to add 'Krishna tatvam' to that film, as 'mugdha manohara mohana roopam' is the first quality of Lord Krishna. Just like the way Krishna had herd of cows, hero in this film had an animal (elephant). I wanted to create the atmosphere of '' Brundavanam''. That's the reason why Mahesh is shown to be moving along with and surrounded by girls/women and kids." Sonali Bendre's characterization in the first half was based on

Satyabhama Satyabhama, also known as Satrajiti, is a Hindu goddess and the third queen-consort of the Hindu god Krishna. Satyabhama is described as the incarnation of Bhudevi, the goddess and the personification of the earth. She aided Krishna in defeat ...

and her characterization in the second half was based on

Rukmini Rukmini ( sa, रुक्मिणी, , ) is a Hindu goddess and the first queen and chief wife of Krishna. In Vaishnava tradition, she is described as Krishna's principal queen in Dvaraka, as well as the chief of his wives. She is an in ...

. Because of that, Krishna Vamsi incorporated a scene similar to ''Rukmini Kalyanam'' (Lord Krishna takes Rukmini away from her place and marries her without the knowledge of her people) in the second half where Murari's character saves Vasundhara from her evil brother and takes away her from her village to marry her. Lakshmi's character was based on

Yasoda Yashoda ( sa, यशोदा, translit=Yaśodā) is the foster-mother of Krishna and the wife of Nanda. She is described in the Puranic texts of Hinduism as the wife of Nanda, the chieftain of Gokulam, and the sister of Rohini. According to the ...

while Prasad Babu and Kaikala Satyanarayana's roles were partially inspired from

Balarama Balarama ( Sanskrit: बलराम, IAST: ''Balarāma'') is a Hindu god and the elder brother of Krishna. He is particularly significant in the Jagannath tradition, as one of the triad deities. He is also known as Haladhara, Halayudha, Bala ...

's character. According to Krishna Vamsi, the other ''Yadavas'' in the film were the brothers and family members of hero while Ravi Babu's character was a mix of characterizations of Sisupala,

Karna Karna (Sanskrit: कर्ण, IAST: ''Karṇa''), also known as Vasusena, Anga-raja, and Radheya, is one of the main protagonists of the Hindu epic '' Mahābhārata''. He is the son of the sun god Surya and princess Kunti (mother of the ...

and Duryodhana. Two separated joint families like that of ''

Pandavas The Pandavas (Sanskrit: पाण्डव, IAST: Pāṇḍava) refers to the five legendary brothers— Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva—who are the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. They are acknowledge ...

'' and ''

Kauravas ''Kaurava'' is a Sanskrit term which refers to descendants of Kuru, a legendary king of India who is the ancestor of many of the characters of the epic ''Mahabharata''. Usually, the term is used for the 100 sons of King Dhritarashtra and his w ...

'' were created though they are on good terms unlike the way portrayed in Lord Krishna's story.

Music

The songs and background score were composed by

. The album consisted of seven tracks. The soundtrack featured singers

S. P. Balasubrahmanyam Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam (4 June 1946 – 25 September 2020), also referred to as SPB or SP Balu or Balu, was an Indian playback singer, television presenter, actor, music composer, dubbing artist, and film producer. He is wi ...

K. S. Chitra Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra (born 27 July 1963), always credited as K. S. Chithra or Chithra, is an Indian playback singer and Carnatic musician. In a career spanning over four decades, she has recorded over 25,000 songs in various I ...

Jikki Pillavalu Gajapathy Krishnaveni (3 November 1935 – 16 August 2004), more famously known as Jikki, was an Indian playback singer from Andhra Pradesh. She sang around 10,000 songs in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, and Sinhalese langua ...

Shankar Mahadevan Shankar Mahadevan (born 3 March 1967) is an Indian singer and composer who is part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio that writes music for Indian films. Personal life and early career Shankar Mahadevan was born in Chembur, Mumbai into a Tam ...

Udit Narayan Udit is an Indian masculine given name that may refer to: * Udit Narayan, Bollywood playback singer * Udit Narayan (politician) (born 1960), Fijian politician of Indian descent * Udit Narayan Singh (1770–1835), Indian monarch * Udit Patel (born ...

, S. P. B. Charan, Sunitha, Anuradha Sriram and Harini. The lyrics were written by

Veturi Veturi Sundararama Murthy (29 January 1936 – 22 May 2010), known mononymously by his surname Veturi, was an Indian poet, lyricist and journalist who is popular for writing Telugu songs. His career in the Telugu cinema spanned more than four de ...

, Sirivennela Sitarama Sastry, Chandrabose and Suddala Ashok Teja.

Reception

The film received positive reviews. '' Idlebrain.com'' rated the film 3.5/5 stating, "The credit for the success or failure of this film should go to Krishna Vamsi. This film is bound get a little bit of dissent from the viewers of C class areas. But, this film is classic masterpiece for the class audience and highly recommended for the Mahesh and Krishnavamsi fans. This film will be a good fare for the people if they watch this film with no expectations. Just watch this film to experience Krishna Vamsi paint the silver screen with his classic strokes." ''fullhyd.com'' rated the film 8/10 stating "Murari starts off on a good note with the desecration of the temple by Prakash Raj for money, and builds up an interesting story as to how three members of their family cursed by Devi Maa give up their lives. But the story soon loses its steam as we know for sure the sacrificial lamb. Murari is a typical ''Hum Aapke Hain Kaun'' kind of film with all the fun and laughter and the goodness among the people. It is good family movie with best cinematography and best performance by artists."

Awards

;

- 2001(in Telugu) * Second Best Feature Film - Silver - Gopi Nandigam and Ramalingeswara Rao * Best Character Actress –

* Special Jury Award –

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murari (Film) 2001 films 2000s Telugu-language films Indian supernatural films Telugu films remade in other languages Films directed by Krishna Vamsi Films scored by Mani Sharma Paranormal films Supernatural fiction Indian romantic drama films Indian family films 2001 romantic drama films 2000s supernatural films Films shot in Andhra Pradesh Films set in Andhra Pradesh Films set in Konaseema