Daruvu

<p>The film’s story is similar to fantasy films like , , , and . Bullet Raja ( ) is a small-time crook with a good heart. He bumps into Swetha ( ) at a function and falls in love with her, but she is already engaged to Harbour Babu ( ), a powerful local goon. One day, using Swetha’s dance master Vidya Balan ( ), Raja and Swetha manage to run away from Babu to reach a hilltop, but Babu tracks them down and is severely beaten by Raja. At the last moment, Babu uses his car to hit Raja off the hilltop. Raja clings on to a branch growing on the hill but slips off it and falls down, yet still manages to survive. Just then, Chitragupta ( ) changes the story, and the car that was stuck on the edge of the hill falls down on top of Raja, and as he was crushed. The Scorpio car blasts, thus killing him. Raja heads to Yamalokam, where he realizes that his life has unjustly been terminated by Chitragupta, and so he picks up a fight with Yamadharma Raja ( ). A helpless Yama gives Bullet Raja three options. Either he could be a warrior who was to die two days later, a who also has the same life span, or greedy, evil, and corrupt of , Ravindra (Ravi Teja), who decides to turn over a new leaf after he realizes the affection and support that the public has for him, but he is killed by his associates Balram ( ), Shantaram ( ), and Pavitrananda ( ). Thus, Raja decides to enter Ravindra, who seemed the most normal among them. After Raja enters into Ravindra’s body, he beats up Ravindra’s assassins and kills them with the help of Yamakinkaras (servants of the lord Yama), Deceives Shantaram, Balaram and Pavitrananda by usurping their assets and throwing them behind bars and reforms the political ecosystem of the ruling party. The trio (Shantaram, Balaram and Pavitrananda) receive bail with the help of Harbour Babu and try to kill Ravindra (Raja), but the trio gets reformed due to the social welfare conducted by Ravindra (Raja) with their confiscated assets. Harbour Babu gets arrested, and when Ravindra (Raja) was about to get home he was shot by a labourer (who was not able to receive justice due to some mishap when Ravindra was alive). Ravindra (Raja) survives due to his good deeds, which he did from the beginning. Ravindra (Raja) gets blessings from Lord Yama as he did the righteous job by supporting the people. Director Siva who previously made films like , and started working on this film in early 2011. Burugupalli Siva Rama Krishna who previously produced films like , and signed Ravi Teja for the film. The film was officially launched on 18 August 2011 in Hyderabad, India. After several months of filming, in January 2012 it was announced that the film was titled . In February 2012, filming was disrupted by Telangana activists. The incident happened when the unit was filming on Osmania University campus, Hyderabad. The activists, raising slogans, ventured onto the location and damaged furniture and film equipment thus forcing the crew to call off the shoot. Ravi Teja was the first actor who was cast in the film. In October 2011, it was announced that Taapsee Pannu who earlier worked with Ravi Teja in was signed for the film. The film is a socio-fantasy flick dealing with and Yamalokam. Veteran actor who was famous for his portrayal of Yama Dharmaraju in several films was cast for that role. Tamil actor was cast for the role of Yama Dharmaraju’s son. Popular Kannada actor and Marathi actor were cast for important roles in the film. Top comedians of Telugu cinema like , , , , and were also cast for vital roles in the film. After the film was launched in August 2011, first schedule of filming began in November 2011. Filming took place in Hyderabad and Chennai. Second schedule of filming began on 11 December 2011. Filming took place in Hyderabad, and . In January 2012, it was announced that 60% of the filming was completed. It was reported that huge sets of Yamalokam were specially designed and constructed in for the film. Filming took place in Ramoji Film City till 3 February 2012 after which three songs were shot from 5 February 2012 till 20 February 2012 in Bangkok. On 5 March 2012 it was announced that the filming will completed by 16 March 2012 and post-production beginning soon after that. The audio of the film was released on 18 April 2012 and the launch was held at Prasad labs in Hyderabad on the same day. The soundtrack of the film was composed by . The lyrics for the songs were written by Bhaskarabhatla, , and Basha Sri. All songs except “Thom Thom” and “Athiri Chirabara” were reused from Vijay Antony’s own Tamil compositions. The movie was scheduled for a worldwide release on 4 May 2012 but got postponed to 18 May 2012 due to delay in the post production work. The film was again postponed and released on 25 May 2012. The film was given a U/A certificate by the . The movie met with negative reviews, however Ravi Teja’s Performance received praise. gave a review stating “Daruvu may be lapped up by Ravi Teja fans but others may find it pretty dreary. If the tagline ‘Sound of Mass’ means that it’s right for the masses, then it’s got that right; a discerning audience won’t find anything to cheer about. gave a review stating “Daruvu suffers from gaps in reason and logic. As a socio fantasy film, it lives on as a punch line of bad movie jokes. Even Ravi Teja’s comic timing and Taapsee’s simpering can’t resurrect a film that has gaping plot holes you could fall into.” gave a review stating “Some people make films for themselves, and some others for juveniles. ‘Daruvu’ is a film made for the low brow. Even those given to mean enjoyment in an inebriated condition in the most godless hamlet would find this film cheap.” The film completed 50 days on 13 July 2012 in 56 centers. The movie was a semihit at the box-office.</p>