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Akhanda
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
| name = Akhanda
| image = Akhanda Poster.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = Boyapati Srinu
| producer = Miryala Ravinder Reddy
| writer = Boyapati Srinu
M. Rathnam
| starring =
| music = Thaman S
| cinematography = C. Ramprasad
| editing = Kotagiri Venkateshwara Rao
Tammiraju
| studio = Dwaraka Creations
| released =
| runtime = 167 minutes
| country = India
| language = Telugu
| budget = 6070 crore
| gross = 120150 crore ($1620 million)
}}
'Akhanda' is a 2021 Indian Telugu-language action drama film written and directed by Boyapati Srinu starring Nandamuri Balakrishna in a dual role alongside Pragya Jaiswal, Jagapathi Babu and Srikanth. The soundtrack album and film score is composed by Thaman S.
Released on 2 December 2021, the film opened to mixed reviews from critics with praise for Balakrishna's performance as an Aghora and Thamans score, but criticism for the storyline and over the top action sequences. The film, however, was commercially successful grossing over crore at the box office, emerging as the second highest-grossing Telugu film of the year and the highest-grossing film in Balakrishnas career.
Plot
Gajendra Sahu is a wanted bandit, who is escaping from the police. During the fight between Gajendra's men and the police, Gajendra gets wounded through his own ammunition and is thrown into the water. He manages to find shelter in a temple under the guidance of a guru. Gajendra murders the guru and becomes the temple priest. Gajendra is now a powerful crime boss, who manages organized crime and illegal mining in the Andhra Pradesh. Meanwhile, Ramachandraiah and his wife are blessed with twins in which one of them is still-birth. Suddenly, an Aghora arrives when the mother is asleep and reveals to Ramachandraiah that the still-born child has a non-peaceful destiny that leads to the destruction of all evil, that matches with that of Lord Shiva. Ramachandraiah hands over the still-born child to the Aghora. The Aghora drops the child into the bag of another Aghora while he is meditating and quickly walks away. The child, who is placed in the temple of Lord Shiva comes to life after a drop of holy water from the oscillating gopuram falls on the child and the child is then raised under the protection of the Aghoras and eventually grows up under the aegis of Lord Shiva and names the child Akhanda Rudra Sikandar Aghora aka Akhanda. The other child grows up as Murali Krishna.
Years later, Murali Krishna is a respected leader of Anantapur district who is revered by the people when injustice shadows them. Saranya Bachupally is a newly appointed DC and falls for Murali Krishna after learning about his dedication and commitment to society. They get married and bear a daughter who eventually falls sick where Murali Krishna finds most all the children of the district suffer from unknown illnesses. After a thorough investigation by Saranya's Principal Secretary Padmavati. They deduce that the illness is actually due to the rich deposits of uranium that are being illegally mined instead of copper by Varadarajulu and Gajendra's associates. Varadarajulu is a merciless brute, who tortures the mining workers for mining and has contacts with corrupt government officials with the help of his brother DSP Ranjan. Murali Krishna confronts Varadarajulu and his men and vows to save the village. Varadarajulu approaches Gajendra, who devises a plan and sets up bombs inside the hospital owned by Murali Krishna. The blast kills many people in the hospital including Central Minister A. Bharath Reddy. He is then arrested by NIA officer Krishnamacharya Perumal, on the charge of assassinating the minister.
Meanwhile, Varadarajulu's goons chase down Saranya and her daughter to kill them. Saranya flees with her sick daughter into an ancient cave that houses an old temple of Lord Shiva and comes upon Akhanda, who is now an Aghora, with supernatural powers deriving from Lord Shiva. Akhanda, being a manifestation of Rudra annihilates the goons and protects Saranya and her daughter. Learning this, Gajendra and Varadarajulu get Ranjan and his men to kill Saranya and her daughter, along with the rest of the family, but Akhanda arrives and kills all of the officers except for Ranjan. Akhanda interrupts Gajendra's ritual by killing Ranjan and warns him. Gajendra then goes to Prachanda, who is a Kapalik tantrik to kill Akhanda. Meanwhile, Akhanda finds Padmavati at a river and brings her back to life, and finds out through his yogic powers that Varadarajulu and Gajendra had found out that she wanted to expose their illegal activities and Gajendra has her killed and thrown into the river. After seeing all of this through his mystic vision, Akhanda arrives at the mines and kills Varadarajulus men and kills Varadarajulu.
When Krishnamacharya Perumal questions him about his misdeeds, Akhanda reveals that anyone who disturbs the very balance of nature needs to be eradicated and walks away. Krishnamacharya Perumal learns about Murali Krishna's innocence and releases him from custody. Gajendra and Prachanda devise a trap and place a cursed death spell upon Saranya's daughter knowing that Akhanda will surely go to Kasi and perform the Mrityunjay puja to free the child and bring her back to life, thereby they could kill Akhanda when he's performing the puja. Akhanda starts the ritual and Gajendra and his men interrupt by throwing weapons. Akhanda bears the pain and finishes the ritual successfully. Saranya's daughter is brought back to life. Lord Shiva enters Akhanda and manifests Akhanda with mighty powers from Shiva and wreaks havoc upon Gajendra and his men. Murali Krishna arrives and joins Akhanda in the fight. Akhanda destroys and kills Gajendra and decapitates Prachanda. Murali Krishna unites with his family and Saranya's daughter asks Akhanda to stay with their family, but Akhanda disagrees and promises the child that he will arrive whenever the child is on the verge of death and destruction.
Cast
* Nandamuri Balakrishna in a dual role as Akhanda Rudra Sikandar Aghora and Murali Krishna
* Pragya Jaiswal as Saranya Bachupally IAS
* Jagapathi Babu as Aghora Baba
* Srikanth as Antahpuram Varadarajulu, the owner of copper mining
* Nithin Mehta as Gajendra Sahu
* Poorna as Padmavathi IAS, Principal Secretary
* Sharath Lohitashwa as Krishnamacharya Perumal, An NIA Officer
* Avinash as Ramachandariah, Akhanda and Murali's father
* Subbaraju as Central minister A. Bharath Reddy
* Sravan as Varadarajulu's youngest brother
* Prabhakar as DSP Ranjan and Varadarajulu's younger brother
* Viji Chandrasekhar as Dharani, Akhanda and Murali's mother
* Ayyappa P Sharma as Prachanda, An Tantrik
* Naga Mahesh as Rajappa
* Baby Deshna Javaji as Janani, Saranya and Murali Krishna's Daughter
* Suresh Chandra Menon as Jagajith Chauhan, a businessman
Production
Development
The film marks the third collaboration between Balakrishna and Boyapati Srinu after 'Simha' (2010) and Legend (2014). It was formally launched at a private event held at Hyderabad in December 2019. The film was tentatively titled as 'BB3' and 'NBK106'. In April 2021, the film's official title was unveiled as 'Akhanda'.Cast and crew
Sayyeshaa was cast for the film for an undisclosed role in November 2020. Later, she left the project due to an unknown reason. It was also reported that Anjali will be part of the film. In March 2021, it was also reported that the action director duo Ram-Laxman has left the film after working for few action scenes. They were later replaced by Stun Shiva. Speaking to the media, in December 2021, Siva told that "I allocated 80 days for 'Akhanda'. Of them, up to 65 days went into mounting action sequences. The rest of the days went into discussing with the director how to elevate the scenes. Ever since the director narrated the story, I started thinking about how to make the fights novel". Initially Prayaga Martin was cast for the lead actress role. Few scenes were also shot featuring her, but was later replaced by Pragya Jaiswal. Pragya was cast in November 2020 after which she joined the production in December 2020. She was part of a 33-day first schedule shot at Hyderabad, Tamil Nadu and Goa. In an interview with 'The Times of India', she said that "I had to join the film sets as soon as I was roped in, so my prep time was very little. It took me a while to transform myself into the character, and that happened on the sets of 'Akhanda'. I had taken a few references from the real-life lady cops and noted every detail related to their dressing, mannerisms, and small-big details". Stylist and costume designer Raamz has been roped for designing costumes in the film. Speaking to Neeshita Nyayapati about designing costumes for Balakrishna's dual characters, he told that "Given Balakrishnas larger-than-life persona, I wanted to create looks that would remain memorable for years to come. Boyapati garu (the films director) gave his inputs as well and we put in a lot of effort to choose specific fabrics for his look. We also designed his tattoos and the Shiva Lingam locket that he uses in fight scenes".Filming
, where climax scenes were shotPrincipal photography of the film began in March 2020. After the filming was halted due to COVID-19 pandemic in India, final schedule of the film was resumed in July 2021 at Hyderabad. Few scenes of the film were shot at Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management, Hyderabad Campus. Filming of climax scenes of the film began in end-July 2021 at Tamil Nadu. Most of the action scenes were features Balakrishna and Srikanth. These action scenes were choreographed by Shiva. It was reported that the scenes were shot at Gingee Venkataramana Temple in Viluppuram district of Tamil Nadu. As part of the final schedule, the team next headed to Goa in September 2021 to shoot songs of the film. Filming was wrapped up in October 2021.
Music
The film score and soundtrack album of the film is composed by Thaman S. The first single from the soundtrack, "Adigaa Adigaa" was released on 18 September 2021. The second single "Akhanda Title Song" was released on 8 November 2021. The last single of the album "Jai Balayya" was released on 27 November 2021, during the pre-release event of the film held at Hyderabad. The music rights were acquired by Lahari Music.
Release
Theatrical
The film was initially planned to be released on 28 May 2021. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India, the film was delayed to 2 December 2021. The Tamil dubbed version of the film was released on 28 January 2022. The film was also dubbed in Hindi under the same title.Home media
Digital distribution rights of the film were acquired by Disney+ Hotstar for 15 crore. Satellite rights of the film were purchased by Star Maa. The film was premiered on Hotstar on 21 January 2022 and became the most watched regional film on OTT platforms. The movie had its television premier on Star Maa on 27 February 2022.Reception
Critical response
A reviewer from 'The Hans India' rated 3 out of 5 stars, and called it Balakrishna's "one man show," adding "Living up to the expectations, Akhanda also showers a mass treat on the fans. The film is impressive in the way it was made." However, the reviewer was critical of predictable plot and screenplay. '123telugu.com' rated the film 3.25 out of 5 stars and stated, "'Akhanda' is a feast for hardcore fans and Balayya gives them ample moments to cherish with his stunning act."Writing for 'The Times of India', Neeshita Nyayapati wrote, "While the basic premise of 'Akhanda' is interesting, especially the way Boyapati sets it up by weaving a historical story with mass moments in a way only he can, he soon loses the plot (literally) and gets carried away with giving Akhanda and Murali mass moments that are sure to elicit whistles but dont do anything for the story." In her review for 'The Hindu', Sangeetha Devi Dundoo also echoes the same. "The film gets tiresome post intermission and the incessantly high voltage background score doesnt help either," she added.
'The Indian Express' critic Manoj Kumar R said that the film was "an assault on the senses." Kumar was critical of Boyapati's usage of spirituality to provide a moral justification for the character to slaughter people with impunity while trying to appear as pro-progress and pro-rational. In an other negative review, Ram Venkat Srikar of 'Cinema Express', wrote: "'Akhanda' is a quintessential Boyapati Sreenu outing where logic dies a brutal death even before the title appears and the audience die a slow death for the next 167 minutes."
Box office
'Akhanda' collected 23 crore in the Telugu states on its opening day. Whereas, it has collected a total of 29.60 crore worldwide on its opening day. The film collected 44 crore, by the second day of its release. At the United States box office, it collected of more than $500,000 within two days of its release. By the third day of the film's release, it had collected 56.90 crore worldwide. After four days, the film collected 74 crores.By the end of first week, the film grossed 87.9 crore worldwide. The film crossed the 100 crore worldwide gross in 11 days. By the end of its run, the film grossed 150 crores earning a distributor share of 94 crores. In theatres, the film completed 50 days in 103 centres.
Notes
References
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