''Nijam'' () is a 2003 Indian Telugu-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 l ...

written, directed and produced by

Teja Teja may refer to: Places *Isla Teja, an island in Chile *La Teja, a neighbourhood of Montevideo, Uruguay * Teja, Perak, Malaysia * Teja Kalan, a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India * Teja Khurd, a village in Batala in G ...

on Chitram Movies banner. The film stars

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 ...

, Rakshita, Gopichand, and Raasi, with music was composed by R. P. Patnaik. Babu and Rameshwari won the

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 ...

in Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress categories respectively. It was remade in Odia as ''Arjuna'' and in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

as ''Top Leader''.

Plot

Sidda Reddy is a powerful mafia leader whose right hand is Devudu. Devudu has a lover named Malli. Reddy, who also likes Malli, takes her to his bed, which is not liked by Devudu. Eventually, Devudu kills Reddy and becomes the leader of the mafia gang. Venkateswarlu is a fire officer. In an incident, Devudu sets a marketplace on fire and Venkateswarlu rescues it with his firefighting, and at the same time, Venkateswarlu slaps Devudu, as he continues throwing kerosene at the marketplace. Devudu holds a grudge against Venkateswarlu and sends him to jail on a framed charge of the murder of Malli's brother Baddu. G. Seetaram, Venkateswarlu's son, tries to rescue his father from the jaws of the police. But in the process, everybody starts asking him for a bribe to do the work. At the end of the day, the police officer and Devudu kill Venkateswarlu. The rest of the story is about how Seetaram's mother takes revenge on the people responsible for the death of her husband with the help of her son Seetaram. The people involved in the crime of his father's death are killed one after the other by the mother and son in a planned and scientific manner. This film tells about an innocent boy, who, along with his mother undergoes injustice and also loses his father in this process. The mother in this situation plays the role of a trainer and guide to her son, making him strong physically and emotionally, to fight back.

Cast

as G. Seetaram * Rakshita as Janki * Gopichand as Devadaya Sharma "Devudu" * Raasi as Malli * Prakash Raj as ACP Raja Narendra * Jaya Prakash Reddy as Sidda Reddy * Ranganath as G. Venkateswarlu, Sitaram's father * Rameshwari as Shanti, Sitaram's mother *

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 C.I. *

Vijayachander Vijayachander, (born Vijayachander Telidevara), is an Indian actor, director and producer, known for his works in Telugu cinema, theatre, and television. Regarded as one of the finest character actor's of Telugu cinema, Vijayachander has appear ...

as DGP * Jeeva as DCP Murali Krishna * Suman Setty as Baddu *

Kanta Rao Tadepalli Lakshmi Kantha Rao (16 November 1923 – 22 March 2009) was an Indian actor and producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. Regarded as one of the finest method actors, Rao starred in more than four hundred feature ...

as Social Worker Narayana Rao * Rallapalli as Butcher *

Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam (20 September 1954 – 7 December 2013) was a popular Indian actor, comedian and film director who worked in Telugu cinema. He was established as one of the highly paid and top most leading comedians in Telugu film in ...

as Traffic Constable *

Kondavalasa Kondavalasa Lakshmana Rao (10 August 1946 – 2 November 2015), popularly known as Kondavalasa, was an Indian actor and comedian who worked in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. Background Kondavalasa Lakshmana Rao was born on 10 August 1946 in ...

as Sitaram's neighbor *

Duvvasi Mohan Duvvasi Mohan is an Indian actor who is know for acting in comic roles, primarily in Telugu films.. He is from Jagityal. He entered Tollywood as a producer and financier, but later turned to acting with comedy roles in over 350 films. Partial ...

as Patil *

Tirupathi Prakash Timmapuram Karanam Ravi Prakash Rao, popularly known as Tirupathi Prakash, is a well known comedy artist in Telugu cinema. He was born in Hindupur in the Anantapuram district on 22 August 1972 to TK Rama Murthy Rao and T K Satyavathi. Tirupat ...

Shakeela C. Shakeela, known mononymously as Shakeela, is an Indian actress and politician who has predominantly acted in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu language films. She is a member of Indian National Congress. Shakeela debuted in the film ''Playgirls ...

* Mani Chandana as an

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 ...

Rathalu *Alapati Lakshmi *Master Ghatamaneni Jaya Krishna as Young Sitaram

Soundtrack

Music was composed by R. P. Patnaik. Lyrics were penned by Kula Shekar. Music was released on Aditya Music.

Legacy and Remakes

The film was also dubbed into

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

as ''Nijam'', and then again in 2012 as ''Seerum Singam''. The film was dubbed as ''Meri Adalat'' in

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 ...

in 2008, in

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

as ''Aamar Protishodh'' and in Bhojpuri as ''Hamaar Faisla''. It was remade as ''Arjuna'' in Oriya starring Anubhab Mohanty and Gargi Mohanty &

as ''Top Leader'' starring Shakib Khan.

Reception and collections

''Idlebrain'' Jeevi in his review gave a rating of 3 out of 5 for the movie with concluding remarks "Overall, it's an average film that has chances to become hit because of the Teja's mass-attracting episodes and Mahesh Babu's brilliant portrayal of the character". Director

in an interview said "We made Nijam in a budget of 6.5 cr INR; We sold audio rights for 2 cr INR and movie initially were sold for a total of 26 cr INR. In total, we made a profit of 5-6 cr INR and Nijam was not a flop". He corroborated the same in an interview with The Hindu "I worked with Mahesh after he had a flop called Bobby, but Nijam released after Okkadu and people drew comparisons. I don’t argue when people say Nijam was a flop. The film was made with a budget of Rs. 6.5 crore and sold for Rs. 21 crore. I repaid money to whoever lost money and still made a huge profit".

Awards

Won

;

* Best Actor -

* Best Supporting Actress -

Talluri Rameshwari Talluri Rameswari (also known as Rameswari) is an Indian actress who worked in Hindi, Odia and Telugu language films. Early life She was born and raised in Andhra Pradesh and spent her childhood in Kakinada. Career Rameswari graduated from ...

;

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 ...

Best Villain Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation ...

- Gopichand ; Filmfare Awards South * Best Actor - Telugu -

Nominated

* Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress - Telugu - Taluri Rameswari ;

* CineMAA Award for Best Actor - Male - Mahesh Babu * CineMAA Award for Best Film - Teja

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0368896 2003 films Films about corruption in India 2000s Telugu-language films Telugu films remade in other languages Films directed by Teja (film director) Indian vigilante films Indian action films Indian films about revenge Films scored by R. P. Patnaik 2003 action films 2000s vigilante films