Aswathama (film)
Aswathama is a 2020 Indian Telugu-language action thriller film directed by debutant Ramana Teja. Produced by Usha Mulpuri under Ira Creations banner, the film stars Naga Shourya and Mehreen Pirzada while Jisshu Sengupta, Harish Uthaman, Prince Cecil and Jayaprakash play supporting roles. Shaurya wrote the story, while Teja and Phanindra Bikkina wrote the screenplay. Ghibran scored the film while Sricharan Pakala composed the soundtrack.
| Aswathama | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Ramana Teja |
| Produced by | Usha Mulpuri Shankar Prasad Mulpuri (presenter) |
| Screenplay by | Ramana Teja Phanindra Bikkina Parusaram Srinivas (dialogues) |
| Story by | Naga Shourya |
| Starring | Naga Shourya Mehreen Pirzada Jisshu Sengupta |
| Music by | Score Ghibran Songs Sricharan Pakala |
| Cinematography | Manojh Reddy |
| Edited by | Garry BH |
Production company | Ira Creations |
Release date |
|
Running time | 133 minutes[1] |
| Country | India |
| Language | Telugu |
| Box office | est. ₹13 crore[2] |
The film follows Gana, a man who returns to India for his sister's marriage. Prior to the function, she attempts suicide but Gana saves her, eventually finding out she is pregnant and the father of her child is unknown. A desperate Gana starts investigating the case and soon finds himself on the trail of the psychopath responsible for similar more cases.
Released theatrically on 31 January 2020, the film received mixed reviews from critics who praised the action sequences.[3][4][5]
Plot
Gana (Naga Shourya) returns to India for his sister Priya's (Sargun Kaur Luthra) marriage but is shocked to see her trying to commit suicide one night, and is shocked to learn she is pregnant but does not know who impregnated her. Gana explains this to her fiancé Ravi (Prince Cecil) who understands the situation, helps Priya get aborted, and promises to keep this a secret. Gana further convinces Priya to move on and forget about the past, which she does and happily gets married. After her marriage, Gana violently fights and interrogates men who troubled Priya in the past, only to learn none of them are behind her impregnation. Soon, another mysteriously impregnated woman named Sadhana commits suicide, and Gana reads her suicide letter explaining she didn't know how she got pregnant without her knowledge. Gana meets her parents and discovers her hospital reports according to which she fainted 3 months ago and was admitted by someone. Realizing Priya also fainted and was admitted, Gana goes to the hospital and finds out Sadhana was admitted in an emergency by an ambulance. He then learns that more girls named Lakshmi and Monica were also admitted by a similar ambulance.
The next day, Gana's girlfriend Neha (Mehreen Pirzada) informs him about her friend who fainted in the mall and was taken in an ambulance that hasn't arrived at the hospital yet. Gana rushes to the hospital and with help from the technical department, chases after the ambulances equipped with trackers. He stops many ambulances but doesn't find Neha's friend inside. Soon, he reaches a dead end and abandons his bike. Using his parkour skills, he chases after an ambulance, only to find him looking at another one that isn't being tracked. He ambushes the ambulance, fights off the men inside, and rescues Neha's friend. On the other hand, a psychopathic pathologist named Dr. Manoj Kumar (Jisshu Sengupta) is revealed to be the mastermind behind the pregnant girls, who then eliminates the fishermen. Later, Neha questions Gana's recent attitude towards her, forcing him to reveal his mission and what happened to Priya. Soon, a minister's daughter named Sowmya is killed and her corpse is dropped in front of the police station. With Neha's help, Gana manages to access Sowmya's laptop and receives photos where he spots an old man, Manoj's grandfather. Further, Gana manages to access CCTV footage of Sowmya buying a perfume from a vendor who reveals the old man told him to sell the perfumes and paid him for it. Since Sowmya was a drug addict, she wasn't unconscious despite being subject to anesthesia and thus knew about Manoj. Despite his friend's insistence not to do so, Manoj ended up killing her. Back to the present, the cops ask Manoj to perform an autopsy on Sowmya.
Gana then explains to Neha that all the victims, though unrelated, were admitted to hospital because of Hypoglycemia induced artificially by a banned drug called Hypomacene. Gana later visits the mall to view surveillance footage and discovers an address that leads him to Manoj's house. Having seen him talk about the autopsy on TV, Gana asks him for help with the case while Manoj tells him to wait for coffee. Manoj explains to his friend that he'd kill Gana, but receiving a call from Neha about the old man dumping another corpse in front of the police station, Gana secretly runs away. A car chase ensues, resulting in the old man's death after Manoj drops a cargo container on his car. Gana then goes to Manoj's house where he discovers dead bodies in separate vessels before Manoj arrives there with his friend. Manoj's friend, who turns out to be his father, removes his belt and starts beating him. It is then revealed that Manoj was psychopathic as a kid and even killed his father who since then appeared as a hallucination. Back to the present,Gana fights with Manoj and beats his head with a glass bottle. He throws him to a wardrobe and Gana drops a chandelier over him. Manoj is laughing, but when he sees his death weapon coming towards him , he faints. The chandelier falls over Manoj killing him. He then receives a call from his father who pranks him into believing a man is trying to harass Priya. Gana arrives home, and finds out Priya is now happily pregnant with Ravi's child
Cast
- Naga Shourya as Gana
- Mehreen Pirzada as Neha
- Jisshu Sengupta as Dr. Manoj Kumar
- Ankith Koyya as young Dr. Manoj Kumar
- Harish Uthaman as Kishore
- Sargun Kaur Luthra as Priya, Gana's sister
- Prince as Ravi, Priya's fiancée
- Aadarsh Balakrishna as Jagadish
- Jayaprakash as Gana's father
- Pavitra Lokesh as Gana's mother
- Surekha Vani as Gana's aunt
- Satya as Gana's cousin
- Posani Krishna Murali as Police Chief
- M. S. Bhaskar
- Y. Kasi Viswanath as Viswanath
- Sanjay Swaroop
- Santoshi Sharma as Sowmya
- Dimple as Rupa
- Hrithi as Keerthi
- Varsha Reddy as Shruti
- Anita Chowdary
- Mukku Avinash
Soundtrack
| Aswathama | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | |||||
| Released | 25 January 2020 | ||||
| Recorded | 2019 | ||||
| Venue | Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai | ||||
| Studio | Jubilee10 studios, Contrabass studios, Audio Garage studios | ||||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | ||||
| Length | 14:05 | ||||
| Label | Aditya Music | ||||
| Producer | Sricharan Pakala | ||||
| Sricharan Pakala chronology | |||||
| |||||
| |||||
The music was composed by Sricharan Pakala, and released on Aditya Music label.
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Aswathama Title song" | Ramajogayya Sastry | Divya Kumar | 4:01 |
| 2. | "Ninne Ninne" | V N V Ramesh Kumar | Armaan Malik, Yaamini Ghantasala | 3:21 |
| 3. | "Maahi" | Kasarla Shyam | Poojan Kohli | 3:22 |
| 4. | "Andaga Annaga" | V N V Ramesh Kumar | Vedala Hemachandra | 3:21 |
| Total length: | 14:05 | |||
Release
The film released on 31 January 2020.[8]
Reception
The Times of India gave the film three out of five stars and wrote that "Aswathama delivers what it promises – a riveting story and oodles of action. Ramana Teja makes a good debut by sticking to the subject at hand without too much deviation".[9] Praising the action sequences, The Hindu wrote that "The story is ridden with lot of predictability, be it the screenplay or the clues that are laid out on a platter for the audience".[3]
Home media
The film was released digitally via Sun NXT and Jio Cinema on 17 April 2020, with English subtitles.
References
- "Aswathama Censor Certificate". 123Telugu.com.
- "Aswathama Box-Office: Naga Shaurya's thriller mints over Rs 13 crore in five days". The Times of India. 5 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
- "'Aswathama' movie review: This action-thriller doesn't rise above Naga Shaurya's heroics". The Hindu. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
If there is any plus point to the film, then it is the action scenes by the hero.
- "Review : Aswathama – Emotional Action Thriller". 123Telugu.com. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
Special mention to the action choreography which is spot on and has been executed well.
- "Aswathama jeevi review". Idlebrain.com. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
Action choreography by Anb Arin (Anbu Arivu) are very effective though violent most of the time.
- "Stunning Transformation! Naga Shaurya flaunts his chiselled body". The Times of India. 4 December 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
- Adivi, Sashidhar (24 January 2020). "Naga Shaurya is worried!". Deccan Chronicle.
- "Naga Shaurya and Mehreen Pirzada's 'Aswathama' has a release date – Times of India". The Times of India.
- "Aswathama Movie Review {3/5}: Not one for the faint-hearted!" – via timesofindia.indiatimes.com.