''Rudramadevi'' is a 2015 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 3D biographical action film based on the life of Rudrama Devi, one of the prominent rulers of the

Kakatiya dynasty The Kakatiya dynasty (IAST: Kākatīya) was an Indian dynasty that ruled most of eastern Deccan region comprising present day Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and parts of eastern Karnataka and southern Odisha between 12th and 14th centuries. Th ...

in the Deccan, and one of the few ruling queens in Indian history. The film written and directed by

Gunasekhar Gunasekar (born 2 June 1964) is an Indian film director and screenwriter known for his works in Telugu cinema. He has directed films in action, romance, mythological, and historical drama genres. He has won a National Film Award, multiple Nand ...

features

Anushka Shetty Sweety Shetty (born 7 November 1981), known by her stage name Anushka Shetty, is an Indian actress and model who predominantly works in Telugu and Tamil films. She is the recipient of Three Filmfare Awards South, Two Nandi Award, and One Tamil ...

in a titular role as Rudramadevi, alongside an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to ...

including Allu Arjun,

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 ...

Vikramjeet Virk Vikramjeet Virk is an Indian actor who has worked in Telugu, Punjabi, Hindi and Malayalam language films. Early life Vikramjeet was born on 19 July 1984 to Sukhwant Singh Virk and Harjinder Kaur Virk in Tharwa Majra village, Karnal district, ...

, Krishnam Raju,

Prakash Raj Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam-language films, he is the recipient of several ...

, Suman, Nithya Menen,

Adithya Surya (; sa, सूर्य, ) is the sun as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta tradition, all of whom are considered as equivalent deities in the Panchayatana puja and a me ...

, and Catherine Tresa. The film is narrated by Chiranjeevi. The film's soundtrack and background score were composed by

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one of ...

. ''Rudhramadevi'' was released worldwide on 9 October 2015, with dubbed versions in Hindi and Malayalam languages. The

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, nati ...

version was released by Sri Thenandal Films on 16 October. The film became the fifth highest opening day grossing Indian film of 2015. It grossed 32 crore worldwide in the opening weekend.

Plot

Ganapatideva Ganapati-deva (r. c. 1199-1262) was the longest reigning monarch of the Kakatiya dynasty of southern India. He brought most of the Telugu-speaking region in present-day Andhra Pradesh and Telangana under the Kakatiya influence by war or diplomacy. ...

( Krishnam Raju) is the emperor of the Kakatiya dynasty who rules the Kakatiya Empire from Orugallu (present day Warangal, Telangana) as its capital city. There are only two threats to Ganapati's rule. Murari Devudu ( Adithya Menon) and Hari Hara Devudu ( Suman), dukes of Kakatiya, are both obviously unsatisfied with Ganapati's reign, and plot to usurp the throne. Emperor Singhana of the Devagiri Empire also wishes to conquer the Kakatiyas and name his grandson and heir,

Mahadeva Mahadeva may refer to: Religion *Mahadeva, a title of the Hindu god Shiva ** Parashiva, a form of Shiva ** Parameshwara (god), a form of Shiva *Para Brahman, a Hindu deity *Adi-Buddha, in Buddhism, the "First Buddha" or the "Primordial Buddha" *M ...

, as the king. Meanwhile, Ganapati's wife is pregnant. Everyone prays for a boy child, because a prince can repel the Devagiri Empire and serve as a successor to the throne. A priest working for Murari and Hari Hara predicts Ganapati's baby will be a girl who will be the saviour of the kingdom. Ganapati's baby indeed turns out to be a girl,

Rudramadevi Rudrama Devi, also Maharani Rudramma Devi, was a queen of the Kakatiya dynasty in the Deccan Plateau from 1263 to 1289 (or 1295) until her death. She was among the women to rule as monarchs in India and promoted a male image in order to do so ...

(

). Her birth disappoints Ganapati, who, being helpless, takes advice from his prime minister, Siva Devayya (

), to announce the baby to be a boy – Rudrama. Murari and Hari Hara go mad after hearing the news that Ganapati gets a prince, a successor to be of the crown; they then angrily kill the priest who predicted Rudrama would be a girl before "his" birth. Rudrama's gender and real name are kept secret from everyone other than Ganapati, his wife, and Siva Devayya; even Rudramadevi herself does not know she's a girl in her childhood. Rudrama is then brought up and trained in a prince's manner. After a few years of training, Rudrama is summoned back to Oragallu for her coronation as the crown prince. At her coronation, she befriends Chalukya Veerabhadra (

), a neighborhing prince, and forms a friendly rivalry with

Gona Ganna Reddy Gona Ganna Reddy (1262–1296 CE), son of king Gona Budda Reddy who contributed to the Ranganatha Ramayanam as Dwipada Kavyam in the Telugu Language and a military chieftain to one of the few ruling queens Rani Rudrama Devi in Indian history. ...

( Allu Arjun), another neighboring prince. She sneaks out of the capital along with Chalukya to bathe in the river. She realizes her gender when she sees an elegant statue of a beautiful woman. After seeing the boys disrobe, she realizes that her body is different from theirs. She then runs to her mother angrily and confusedly to ask the reason for hiding her real gender; her mother confesses the story and tells her the reason was to protect the kingdom. In front of her parents and Siva Devayya, Rudrama swears to continue living as a boy until the kingdom's safety is assured. Years later, in a sporting event, Naga Devudu, the nephew of Murari and Hari Hara, fails to subdue a raging elephant. Murari and Hari Hara challenge Rudrama to defeat the elephant. Rudrama accepts, however she is unaware that Murari and Hari Hara have rigged the competition so no one can win. Despite this, Rudrama wins the challenge, making her adored by several princesses in the scene, including Muktamba ( Nithya Menen). Gona Ganna Reddy, one of Rudrama's playmates in childhood and who was then thrown out of the palace and is now called a traitor, shows up in the scene to confront Rudrama. Gona is now the leader of an opposition army, which has been a threat to Ganapati's position. He manages to escape when Ganapati's army tries to arrest him. Ganapati, unable to escape from the pressure from inside and outside his palace, decides to get Rudrama married to a princess, and he chooses Muktamba. On their wedding night, Rudrama, in order to protect her secret, tells Muktamba that she has taken a vow of celibacy until the kingdom is safe. The conversation is tapped by a spy of Murari and Hari Hara, and she tells it to the two, making the secret and the fame of the Ganapati's family in danger. The two plan to reveal the secret and use it as an excuse to force Ganapati off the throne. However, before they can do so, Siva Devayya decides to reveal the secret to the people. Siva Devayya then announces Rudramadevi's real identity and her to be the queen of the kingdom. The people of Kakatiya, after knowing Ganapati has cheated them for many years, become angry and unsatisfied and strongly object. Rudramadevi is not accepted by the people to be their queen and is hence driven out of the kingdom. Ganapati also loses the trust and support of his people because of this. Murari and Hari Hara take this chance to launch a coup using the secret passageway. They then proclaim that they will rule Oragallu in Mahadeva's name, while maintaining their own power. Before Murari and Hari Hara can kill Siva Devayya, he has a heart attack and dies. It doesn't take too long for the people to realize that who deserves to rule the kingdom, as Murari and Hari Hara start to prosecute them with higher tax rates and unprecedented cruelty and aristocracy soon after they take power. The desperate people, along with Siva Devayya (who faked his death), then turn to Rudramadevi to apologize and for help. Rudramadevi then forms these people as an opposition army to fight against her own kingdom's army. Rudramadevi and her army meet Gona Ganna Reddy's army on her way, which is surprisingly not about to attack her, but to help her get her crown back. It is revealed that Gona, who noticed Rudramadevi was a girl in their childhood, is not a traitor but a most loyal warrior of the kingdom. He had already expected that Rudramadevi would lose her power and be driven out of the kingdom one day, so he left the palace, pretending to be driven out for being a traitor, to form his own army to wait for the day. After they join hands, their united army is greater and stronger than that of Murari and Hari Hara and beats the latter. They also repel and defeat the Devagiri Empire. Rudramadevi then gets her crown back, marries Chalukya, and becomes the first queen in South Indian history.

Cast

as Rudrama Devi alias (Rudradeva Maharaja) * Allu Arjun as

as Chalukya Veerabhadra *

as Mahadeva Nayakudu * Krishnam Raju as

as Siva Devayya * Suman as Hari Hara Devudu * Nithya Menen as Muktamba * Catherine Tresa as Anambika *

as Murari Devudu * Prabha as Somamba, Ganapati Devudu's wife * Vinod Kumar as Ganna Reddy's paternal uncle * Raja Ravindra as Anambika's father * Ulka Gupta as Younger Rudrama Devi *

Roshan Meka Roshan Meka is an Indian actor who works in Telugu films. He is the son of actors Srikanth and Ooha. He made his debut in a lead role with ''Nirmala Convent'' (2016) and went on to win SIIMA Award for Best Male Debut – Telugu. He later pla ...

as Young Chalukya Veerabhadra *

Aditi Chengappa Aditi Chengappa is an Indian actress, who appears in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Hollywood cinema. Early life Aditi was born in Bangalore. Her father, Raj Chengappa, an Kodagu gowdas, Arebashe Gowda from Karnataka, is the editorial director of pu ...

as Ganapamba * Hamsa Nandini as Madanika * Ajay as Prasadaditya * Baba Sehgal as Naga Devudu * Raza Murad as Simhana, King of Devagiri *

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 Amba Devudu *

Subbaraya Sharma Subbbaraya Sarma is an Indian actor known for his works in Telugu cinema, theatre, and television. In a film career spanning more than forty years, Sarma played a variety of roles as a character actor and comedian. In 1989, he received the Tri- ...

as Jayapa Naidu * Venu Madhav as Tittibi * Arpit Ranka as Varada Reddy * Akshara Mandhapati as Akshara Devi *

Ravi Prakash Ravi Prakash is an Indian actor who primarily appears in Telugu and Tamil films. Career Ravi was born in Vijayawada and grew up in Visakhapatnam, India. After completing his secondary education, he chose to pursue a career in medicine and stu ...

* Vennela Kishore * Sivaji Raja *

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 ...

* Uttej * Brahmaji *

Dharmavarapu Subramanyam 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 ...

* Kunal Mukhi

Production

Director Gunasekhar readied a script based on the life of Rani Rudramadevi. Anushka,

Nayanthara Diana Mariam Kurian, known professionally as Nayanthara, is an Indian actress and film producer who is known for her work in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. She was in the ''Forbes India'' "Celebrity 100" 2018 list, with her total annual ...

and Priyanka Chopra were considered for the title role but Anushka was signed based on her performance in Arundhati. Gunasekhar selected Ilaiyaraja to compose the music and Thotta Tharani for art direction. The film is made on a budget of . Mahesh Babu and

Jr. NTR Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Jr. (born 20 May 1983), also known as Jr. N.T.R. or Tarak, is an Indian actor who primarily works in Telugu cinema. One of the highest paid Telugu film actors, Rama Rao Jr. has won several accolades, including two Fi ...

were first approached for the role of Gona Ganna Reddy, but both of them rejected the offer. Later, Allu Arjun was eventually selected to do the role.

Neeta Lulla Neeta Lulla is an Indian costume designer and fashion stylist who has worked on over 300 films. She has been designing wedding dresses since 1985. She was famed for designing costumes in Chandni, Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari, Khuda Gawah fo ...

designed the costumes. Rapper Baba Sehgal was hired by director

for a role.

, who earlier played a negative role in Ashutosh Gowarikar's ''

Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey ''Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey'' () is an Indian Hindi-language historical action-adventure film directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and released on 3 December 2010. Starring Abhishek Bachchan, Deepika Padukone and Sikandar Kher, it was based on Manini ...

'' (2010) and in Puri Jagannadh's 2014 film '' Heart Attack'', was selected to play a negative character named Mahadeva Nayakadu. The filming was started on 14 February 2013 in Warangal. The first shot was shot at the Thousand Pillar Temple in Warangal. Final schedule of shoot ended in July 2014.

Release

The film's official trailer was released on 2 March 2015. The film was slated to be released on 26 June 2015, but it was but postponed to 9 October due to technical problems. Telangana state has given entertainment tax exemption for the film.

Legal release online

HeroTalkies has legally released ''Rudhramadevi'' in 2D and 3D formats to overseas customers who have 3D TVs.

Reception

Critical response

Upon release, the film received positive reviews, with critics praising the direction, narration, and Anushka's performance. Belvoir Eagle gave the film 3.5/5 rating, and Kiaara Sindu of '' The Hans India'' rated 4/5.

Box office

The film became the fifth highest opening-day gross of any Indian film in 2015. It grossed in its first weekend at the domestic box office, and it was finally an average grosser. It made in its first week. The worldwide collection exceeded in 17 days and in 21 days. The worldwide gross was in 35 days. The Hindi-dubbed version collected nett from its two weeks of release. The film had an overseas collection of $990,772 in 24 days, and $993,837 in 31 days.

Accolades

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album and background score were composed by

. The audio music was planned to release separately in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh states having the Chief ministers of these states as chief guests. The songs were released simultaneously in Visakhapatnam and Warangal on 25 July 2015. Deccan Music named it as the Best Telugu Album of the month. The soundtrack for the

version were released on 15 August 2015 and the Malayalam version was released on 4 September 2015, respectively.

Legacy

''Rudhramadevi'' is the first

film to have its recording in London, United Kingdom. The garments and jewellery designed for the lead cast are available in NAC Jewellers in Chennai as Rudhramadevi Collections.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Gunasekhar 2015 films 2010s action war films 2010s Telugu-language films Films set in Telangana Films shot in Telangana Films shot in Warangal Films set in the 13th century Indian 3D films 2015 3D films History of India in fiction History of India on film 2010s historical action films Same-sex marriage in film Cross-dressing in Indian films Films set in forests Films directed by Gunasekhar Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Indian action war films Indian historical action films Indian biographical films Indian epic films Films about royalty Biographical films about royalty Films set in ancient India Biographical action films Historical epic films War epic films Indian swashbuckler films Indian nonlinear narrative films 2010s biographical films