Anji

<p>The , a symbol of Lord , possesses enormous divine powers. Once every 72 years, the (Heavenly dimension of the river from the universe) flows onto the Atmalingam. Those who drink Akasha Ganga’s holy water become immortal and gain supernatural powers. In 1932, during the , a greedy youngster named Veerendra Bhatia with two greedy are in search of the Atmalingam from a cave which is guarded by a divine and a gigantic . They try to bring it but fail, resulting in the deaths of the two tantriks and Bhatia losing his right hand. The sacred Atmalingam gets swept away in the river and becomes invisible. Time progresses and Bhatia, now 99 years old, searches for the Atmalingam’s traces, but in vain. Akasha Ganga is slated to flow to the earth for the Atmalingam in 2004. Finally, he learns about a professor who researched the Atmalingam and the Akasha Ganga and possesses vital information in a red diary. Fearing for his life and this information, the professor sends the diary to his student Swapna, who is in the USA, so that Bhatia will not be able to become immortal. After receiving the journal, Swapna, sensing danger to her professor, comes back to India in search of him, only to find him killed. While escaping from Bhatia, she runs into Anji, a good samaritan in the forest area, who serves the most revered Sivanna, an specialist, while also raising four . One day, Anji stumbles on the Atmalingam and takes its possession. After learning about it, Bhatia and his men go after Anji and Swapna. As the D-Day of Akasha Ganga is fast approaching, Sivanna tells Anji that the Atmalingam should be sent back to where it belongs. So, Anji and Swapna go to the Himalayas to reinstall the Atmalingam in a temple that was built using stones by the legendary king . The temple becomes visible only after 72 years. Using help from the diary, Anji enters the temple and faces many traps in the temple and survives to reinstall the Atmalingam in the of the temple. But the evil Bhatia drinks the water before Anji can drink it. One of the orphans gets shot. Anji and Bhatia get into a fight, and at last, Lord himself appears and kills Bhatia using his . Anji manages to run from the temple, and a drop of the holy water revives the orphan who had been shot by Bhatia. Anji, Swapna, and the four orphans return to their home in a helicopter, and the Atmalingam and the temple vanish, never to be seen again. In May 1997, reported that would direct in a big-budget film produced by . By 24 October 1997, the same newspaper reported that the film would commence on 1 November 1997. A subsequent report in a week later revealed that Shyam Prasad Reddy had already traveled to the four times to finalize the graphics work for the project but named as the director instead. In December 1998, revealed that would portray a searching for a magic potion that promises eternal youth. By August 2000, was confirmed as part of the cast, and in March 2001, it was reported that Singh would play the main villain, with Tinu Anand portraying the older version of the character. Additionally, one of the in the film’s opening scene was portrayed by a beggar who frequented the . In June 2000, mentioned a tentative release date of 1 October 2000 for the film. By 11 September 2000, producer Shyam Prasad Reddy announced that shooting would be completed by 15 October 2000, with the film set for a 22 December 2000 release. However, Chiranjeevi later revealed in a 16 September 2000 interview with that the film was yet to be titled, with options including or . He attributed the production delays to the extensive graphics work, which involved 20-24 minutes of 3-D animation, a first in Indian cinema. The graphics were managed by Chris, also known as UK-2, at London’s Digitalia Studio. By November 2001, filming was almost complete except for the songs, which were planned for December 2001 and January 2002, aiming for a February 2002 release. When questioned about the lengthy production process, director Kodi Ramakrishna noted that the extensive graphics work justified the four-year timeline. He praised Shyam Prasad Reddy for his dedication to making an extraordinary film, rather than opting for a quick profit with a mass-market production. In January 2002, reported the film’s release date as 9 April 2002. By March, it was reported that two songs had been completed, one featuring Chiranjeevi with and another with Rajlaxmi, who had recently appeared in a special song in the Hindi film (2001). A special number with a Bollywood actress was planned for April 2002, to be filmed on a market-themed set. The report also noted that the film was shot entirely in a forest and revolves around a search for Akasa Ganga, a mystical site containing a powerful Siva Lingam. In May 2002, producer Shyam Prasad Reddy anticipated completing the graphics work for by 30 July, aiming for a release shortly after 15 August. However, by August, the graphics work was still in progress at Digitalia in the UK, prompting a shift in potential release dates to the festival in 2002 or in 2003. By September 2002, reported that the graphic work for was still underway under the supervision of Chris at Digitalia. Producer Shyam Prasad Reddy announced plans to release the film on 9 January 2003 but acknowledged potential delays if the visual effects required additional time. The report also stated that the film’s budget was ₹35 crore, including extended production expenses and interest, and that needed to surpass the success of (2002) to recover its costs. In December 2003, Shyam Prasad Reddy confirmed that the film would have a theatrical release with five songs, with the “Gumma Gulabi Komma” song to be filmed and added during the fourth week of its run. A decade after the film’s release, Kodi Ramakrishna revealed that Chiranjeevi wore the same shirt for two years without washing it to maintain continuity. He also mentioned that some scenes required 100 to 120 . featured digitally enhanced animated characters. Noted director and illustrator created sketches of , , and an old temple, which served as the basis for models and sets. Firefly Creative Studio handled the visual effects for the closing battle, the Lord Siva temple, one of the romantic songs, and the festival scene. The graphics work also involved studios from the , , and . composed the songs and background score for the film. The song “Chik Buk Pori” was composed by , but Mani Sharma did the of the song. On 5 January 2004, producer Shyam Prasad Reddy announced that would be on 7 January, with a planned release on 9 January. However, on 7 January, MS Arts confirmed that the release had been postponed to 14 January due to delays in finalizing the graphics. On 8 January, conflicting release dates were reported in different newspapers, with listing 14 January and listing 15 January. The confusion arose because the decision to postpone the release was made late on the night of 7 January, and by the time the news was communicated to the media, had already printed its editions. The official release date was eventually confirmed as 15 January. To ensure timely delivery of the film prints, Mohini Films, the distributors for the Vizag region, booked a private to transport the prints from to —an unprecedented move in . Despite the logistical challenges, successfully released on 15 January 2004 during the festival. However, due to delays in printing the necessary number of film prints, the release was pushed to 16 January in some regions. Jeevi of rated the film 3 out of 5, commending the visual effects and Chiranjeevi’s performance while criticising the screenplay and direction. A critic from rated the film 3/5 and wrote, “Despite all those special effects the film is unimpressive as the subject and style is outdated.” A critic from noted, “Anji teaches us how to make a movie out of a logic-defying story”. wrote “Telugu Cinema audience generally come to a movie to watch the (their) hero play the “hero” in the movie. mRgaraaju was a disaster because of the same reason – the audience expected Chiranjeevi to kill the lion in the second reel, but the movie was dragged for 14 reels! Even in anji, the special effets overshadowed the hero, and this might be a negative point for the movie in the long run. The movie is definitely worth a watch, or good even for a repeated audience, though, if one does not expect Chiranjeevi (in the movie) to be omnipresent and omnipotent”.</p>