Athadu

Professional hitman Nanda "Nandu" Gopal (Mahesh Babu) is contracted to fake an assassination attempt on opposition leader Shiva Reddy (Sayaji Shinde) as part of the latter's plan to become Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister through sympathy. However, before Nandu pulls the trigger, Shiva Reddy is fatally shot. With escape strategist / partner-in-crime Malli (Sonu Sood) dying in a road accident and police surrounding the high-rise building he was in within minutes, Nandu is forced to the top of the roof and jumps off the building onto a train. In one of the compartments, he meets Pardhasaradhi "Pardhu" (Rajiv Kanakala), who was returning to his village, Basarlapudi, after running away 12 years ago. Later that same night, the police arrives at Gudivada, where the train is running 20 minutes late. The SI of the search party takes a shot at Nandu, but Pardhu accidentally comes in the way and is shot instead, resulting in Nandu escaping in the ensuing search.

Nandu arrives at Basarlapudi, and thinking that he is Pardhu, the latter's family takes Nandu into their family, with Pardhu's cousin and to-be fiancée Poori (Trisha), constantly trying to get his attention. As Nandu grows closer to his new family, he solves many of their problems: He solves a land dispute and pays for his cousin's marriage to prevent his family from selling their land to pay for it. He also gains insight into their lives: A scene involving Pardhu's grandfather, Satya Narayana Murthy (Nassar), catching his grandkids playing with a family gun leads to him telling Nandu that that Pardhu's father died from a ricocheting bullet caused by stone being stuck in the barrel, similar to the marbles that the kids play with. Nandu also aids a family whose son's death was indirectly caused by Pardhu (which was what made Pardhu run away). With Pardhu's closest friend, Ramana (Sunil), participating in the act, Nandu discloses his identity to him in a subsequent conversation. Nandu also eventually reciprocates Poori's love, telling her that he doesn't know what living with a family feels like, and is slowly learning to embrace all of them.

Meanwhile, CBI Officer Anjaneya Prasad (Prakash Raj) is handed the case of Shiva Reddy's murder. Investigating the crime scene and tracking Nandu's actions leads him to Basarlapudi to meet "Pardhu" (Nandu). Hoping to match his fingerprints to the gun present at the crime scene, Prasad interrogates Nandu and tries to get his fingerprints, but is outsmarted. Subsequent investigation leads him to the accident that prevented Nandu from escaping; however, probing into that angle reveals that both vehicles involved in the accident (Malli's car and a petrol tanker) were hired by Malli, resulting in another dead end. But talking with ex-gangster Sadhu (Rahul Dev) reveals that Malli and Nandu both worked with him, with Malli planning the escape and Nandu doing the job. Further interrogation reveals that professional killers keep their stash in banks, and Prasad locates Nandu's bank account by searching for accounts that witness a spike in the days leading to Shiva Reddy's assassination. He learns of a transfer that took place recently, and heads to the destination bank to discover Nandu's masquerade as Pardhu - the transfer was a 10 lakh cheque encashed by Murthy for the marriage. Calling Nandu by his real name tricks him and results in Prasad and his team arriving at Pardhu's house to apprehend him. Though Nandu escapes, Prasad reveals everything to Murthy, leaving the entire family shocked and angry.

Later, Nandu returns amidst outrage from the other family members for his betrayal, and tells Murthy that he lied because he couldn't bring himself to tell him about Pardhu's death. He also explains that though he lied, he never cheated the family and surrendered to their emotions, whether insults or love. Murthy takes him into the study, where he emphasizes that by surrendering to their emotions and acting as a true member of the family, Nandu is his grandson, his "Pardhu", in his eyes. Murthy hands the family gun to Nandu, urging him to fight whoever was responsible for framing him as the murderer of Shiva Reddy. By threatening Shiva Reddy's colleague, Baji Reddy (Kota Srinivasa Rao), Nandu learns that Baji Reddy hired Malli to kill Shiva Reddy in a move to become Chief Minister. Letting Baji Reddy that he recorded the conversation, he heads to Malli's location; Prasad and team see him at an intersection and one of Prasad's colleagues, Ravi (Ravi Prakash), tries to shoot him, but Nandu manages to escape, leaving Prasad forcing Ravi to tell him why he shot Nandu. When Nandu meets Malli, Malli reveals that he took Baji Reddy's deal to kill two birds with one stone: Get more money from the job, as well as put the blame on Nandu. A shooting ensues between the two, with another obstacle appearing in the form of police. Eventually the two face to face, and though Nandu's gun is out of ammo, Malli kills himself by using the family gun - the bullet ricochets because of one of the kids' pebbles in the barrel.

When Prasad arrives at the scene, he receives the recording from Nandu, and subsequently threatens to tell Shiva Reddy's son, Pratap Reddy (Ajay) about Baji Reddy's crime, and Baji Reddy kills himself. Nandu immerses Pardhu's ashes and meets up with Prasad, who effectively clearing Nandu's name by placing the blame on Baji Reddy, leaving Nandu to return to Basarlapudi.

Mani Sharma composed the music for this film marking his first collaboration with Trivikram Srinivas and eighth collaboration with Mahesh Babu. The film's soundtrack was released by Mahesh Babu's father and prominent Telugu actor Krishna on 29 June 2005 at the house set of the film constructed at Nanakramguda through Maruthi Music label. This album consists of six melodies composed by Mani Sharma while Sirivennela Sitaramasastri and Viswa penned the lyrics. Apart from Krishna, the film's lead pair, producers and Maruthi Music representatives attended the event.[7]

The audio received moderately positive response from critics. IndiaGlitz wrote "Mani Sharma has tried to please all. If you are going to compare this one with his previous offerings for Mahesh, it does not do any one any good. On its own, the album has its moments."[9] Upon the film's release, Mani Sharma's work was acclaimed by the critics and audience alike. IndiaGlitz wrote "Mani Sharma's music, especially the title song, is very good. His re-recording also fits the bill."[10] idlebrain.com wrote "Music by Mani Sharma is good. The picturization of the first song which comes as background song for titles is wonderful. Neetho Cheppana song has got typical Mexican music. Background music and rerecording of the film is good."[11] Sify.com wrote "The highlights of Athadu are the camerawork of K. V. Guhan and the melodious music and background score of Mani Sharma. The Neeto Chappana number picturised in the tea estates of Darjeeling is the pick of the album."[12] Songs Sung By Eminent Singers Like S. P. Balu, K. S. Chithra, Kavita Krishnamurti, Shreya Ghoshal, Mahalakshmi Iyer, KK etc

Despite the remakes in different languages the film was dubbed in Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, English, and Polish as Nandhu, Cheetah: The Power of One (2013), Target, The Power of One, and Poszukiwany respectively.

• Athadu at IMDb
• Athadu at AllMovie