Soggade Chinni Nayana

<p>Ram “Ramu” Mohan is a socially-inept practicing in the United States. His wife, Seetha, feels lonely since Ramu pays very little attention to her because of his work. They decide to divorce and leave for Sivapuram, , where Ramu’s mother Satyabhama lives. Satyabhama, shocked to learn that Ramu and Seetha are divorcing, shouts at a portrait of her deceased husband Bangarraju (a benevolent, flirtatious zamindar who died nearly 30 years ago in an accident). Bangarraju’s soul is in , where he continues to flirt. , at ‘s command, sends him back to earth because there is a mission only he can fulfil. Bangarraju, who can be seen and heard only by Satyabhama, tries to solve his family’s problems. After several unsuccessful attempts, Bangarraju possesses Ramu’s body on his birthday. He meets Ramu’s young female cousins, and invites them to his home. On his way back Ramu meets Suri, a frightened drunk who runs away as Ramu and Bangarraju look identical. To free himself from guilt, Suri later admits that he murdered Bangarraju with a lorry after he was bribed. Before he can disclose more details, Suri dies in an accident and Bangarraju learns that his family is in danger. Ramu spends quality time with his cousins, making Seetha jealous. Bangarraju is confronted by Satyabhama, who is unaware of recent events. He suggests that she help Seetha impress Ramu. At Satyabhama’s suggestion, Ramu and Seetha go to a theatre to watch a film. When she is taunted, Ramu (possessed by Bangarraju) overpowers her tormenters. Seetha is pleasantly surprised, since Ramu failed to confront the same group earlier in a similar situation. The couple slowly grow closer, and Seetha realises that Ramu does love her. Bangarraju learns from Athmanandam, a who can communicate with souls, that his uncle Rudraraju masterminded his murder. Rudraraju and his cousin, Veerababu, wanted to steal jewellery from a 1,000-year old temple to . They murdered Bangarraju, bribing Suri to silence him. After Rudraraju’s son dies when he is bitten by a divine snake, a warns that only Bangarraju’s descendants can open the lock; others would be killed by the snake. The tantrik captures Bangarraju’s soul and gives a few threads to Sampath, Rudraraju’s grandson, telling him to tie them to the hands of every member of Bangarraju’s family to keep his soul from communicating with them. After Sampath and the others leave, the snake kills the tantrik and saves Bangarraju’s soul. Bangarraju reaches the temple, where Satyabhama can neither see nor hear him and he cannot possess Ramu. Rudraraju and Sampath attack Ramu and Seetha after the jewellery is removed from the treasury. Rudraraju tells his henchmen to put the couple in a car with the jewellery, which will make the villagers think that they are the thieves. The thread to Ramu’s hand comes loose, and Bangarraju possesses him. Bangarraju fights them and retrieves the jewellery before leaving Ramu, who operates on an injured Seetha in a nearby hospital. Satyabhama removes the thread and can see Bangarraju. Ramu and Seetha reconcile, and Yamraj orders Bangarraju to come back in accordance with Lord Shiva’s instructions. When Satyabhama begs Bangarraju to stay, Yamraj gives him a chance to wipe away her tears. He asks her to keep smiling and live happily for his sake, and returns to Yamlok. During the production of (2014), producer and lead actor liked the portions which were set against a village backdrop. He developed an interest in making a film based on Indian village life, feeling that audiences would see a “new, yet traditional lifestyle, something fresh and interesting”. After sketching the basic idea, approached Virinchi Varma to direct the film; Mohan produced Varma’s directorial debut, (2013). Varma declined the offer, since he wanted to film his own script. Nagarjuna then gave the synopsis to Kalyan Krishna Kurasala, who completed the script within a month. Kurasala was confirmed as director, marking his directorial debut in Telugu cinema. Nagarjuna approved the inclusion of supernatural elements, such as the ghost of Bangarraju and the divine snake guarding his family, on the condition that they be positive and not frightening. The film was titled as named after the song from 1966 film starring Akkineni Nageswara Rao. He played two roles: Bangarraju, a flirtatious zamindar, and his son Ramu (a socially-inept doctor, born the day after Bangarraju’s death). Ramu’s character was based on Umakanth, a contestant on (a game show hosted by Nagarjuna). As Bangarraju, Nagarjuna wore a and a 1959 watch; both were worn by his father, , in his many village-film starring roles. and were the female leads; and were considered before Tripathi was cast. Initially skeptical about playing a married woman, Tripathi agreed after listening to a script reading at the Annapurna Studios office. In a January 2016 interview with , Nagarjuna mentioned that Bangarraju and Satyabhama (played by Ramya) would be a “hot, romantic” couple, in contrast to the “innocent, cute” Ramu and Seetha (played by Tripathi). After being cast, Tripathi said that her character, a traditional Indian girl, would have a romantic touch. L. Satyanand wrote screenplay, and composed its soundtrack and score. and Siddhardh Ramaswami were the cinematographers. and Ravinder Reddy were in charge of the film’s editing and art direction respectively. A launch ceremony was held on 19 November 2014 at Annapurna Studios in Hyderabad, and began several hours later on a set erected in the Studios’ premises. made a in the film. confirmed her inclusion in the cast in December 2014; she played a supporting role and participated in a song with Nagarjuna. Raju Sundaram, Vishwa and Raghu choreographed the songs. Television presenter played Nagarjuna’s cousin after backed out, citing scheduling conflicts. Diksha Panth also made a cameo appearance; her inclusion was confirmed in August 2015. Nagarjuna had to simultaneously complete his portions of (2016) and during 2015. Filming resumed on 11 February 2015 after completion of two schedules. Principal photography continued in on 10 March 2015 after key sequences were filmed in and around . Several scenes were filmed at a 1,500-year-old temple in Kere Thonnur village in Mandya District. In September 2015, with nearing completion, its film unit told that a few key scenes would be re-filmed on the advice of writer (who changed some scenes to suit the story). The re-filming delayed its release. Principal photography on 4 October 2015 in Mysore, and began shortly afterwards. was produced on a budget of 150–200 million. The six-song soundtrack was composed by ; however, its initial release had only five songs. wrote the lyrics for two songs: “Vasthane Vasthane” and “Untale”. , Balaji and Krishna Kanth wrote the lyrics of one song each. The title song was written by and performed by Satya Yamini, Nuthana and Vinayak. The soundtrack, on , was released on 25 December 2015 with a promotional event at , Hyderabad. According to Karthik Srinivasan of , the of “Dikka Dikka Dum Dum” resembles one written by for the Tamil song “Kaatre En Vasal” from (2000): . Srinivasan called its melody “heady, raucous and very rhythmic”. Sangeetha Devi Dundoo from wrote that Rubens’ music complemented the film’s rural backdrop. called Rubens’ music one of the film’s biggest strengths, which “perfectly gelled with the rustic storyline”. was released worldwide on 15 January 2016 in 800-900 screens. Three other Telugu films ( , and ) were released at the same time, which affected its distribution. Nagarjuna defended his release decision, saying that the film’s rural backdrop made it suitable for the season (a harvest festival). He added, “I announced the date two and a half months ago and blocked the theatres. There’s nothing I can do now”. Global Cinema acquired the film’s theatrical rights for the Nizam region. The film received positive reviews from critics. Suresh Kavirayani of gave four out of five stars, praising Kurasala’s narrative clarity and calling it “wonderful overall” for its consistent tempo. Sangeetha Devi Dundoo, in , gave the film 3.5 stars out of five and said it was set in a “familiar, comfort zone” which “guarantees a lot of fun”. Dundoo found the temple-and-snake subplot engaging. Pranita Jonnalagedda of also gave the film 3.5 stars out of five, calling it “so uncomplicated, unfussy and unpretentious” that viewers “get hooked to its simplicity”. gave three stars out of five, comparing the film to Nageswara Rao’s 1978 film . The reviewer praised Nagarjuna’s performance and Kurasala’s narrative clarity. L. Ravichander of gave it a negative review, calling it an obsolete film with crass humor. Ravichander called Ramya’s performance the “lone bright spot … all grace, charm and vigour.” had an average 70-percent theatre occupancy rate and grossed 55 million (with a distributor share of 39 million) at the -Nizam box office on its first day. In three days, the film grossed 130 million and collected a distributor share of 85 million at the AP-Nizam box office. The three-day global gross passed 200 million, with a distributor share of 141 million. According to trade analyst , grossed US$535,183 ( 362 million) at the United States box office in its first weekend and was Nagarjuna’s second-highest-grossing film in India (after ). In five days, the film grossed $629,303 ( 42.9 million) at the U.S. box office after a significant decline. In its first week, grossed 347.4 million globally. With a distributor share of 228.3 million, it became profitable. After losing 30 screens to , grossed $776,940 ( 52.7 million) in ten days at the U.S. box office. By the end of its second week, the film grossed 559.6 million globally and had a distributor share of 357.3 million. In its third week, after losing many screens due to new releases, the film retained 19 screens in the U.S. and grossed $827,918 ( 53.2 million) in 17 days. With a distributor share of 38 million on an investment of 6.5 million, became Nagarjuna’s highest-grossing film in India. In 20 days, the film grossed 638.8 million globally and collected a distributor share of 404.8 million; it became one of the few Telugu films to cross the 40- ( 400 million) mark. retained seven screens in its fourth week in the U.S., grossing $837,089 ( 56.9 million) in 24 days. The film completed a 50-day-run in more than 75 theatres on 4 March 2016, a record for a Nagarjuna film. The global gross and distributor-share figures stood at 700 million and 440 million, respectively. It was estimated to have grossed over 750 million globally in its theatrical run. The film was remade in as (2017). The dubbed version, was released on 14 July 2017. The film was dubbed in Hindi as . Due to Bangarraju’s popularity, Nagarjuna announced the film’s sequel with Kurasala returning as director. The film is titled as and it has Nagarjuna reprising his roles as Bangarraju and Ramu and Ramya Krishna as Satyabhama alongside a new cast including as Bangarraju’s grandson, Chinna Bangarraju, and . However, its production was postponed due to several reasons and the pre-production works of the sequel was completed in November 2020 and filming was completed in December 2021. The film was released on 14 January 2022 coinciding with . Most Popular Actor Of The Year – Female</p>