Azad (2000 film)

Anjali (Soundarya) is a journalist who witnesses the murder of a senior journalist carrying crucial evidence about a mafia don. Anjali is on a mission to sue the criminal Deva (Raghuvaran), who is responsible for the murder. Anjali is also harassed by Deva's misdeeds. Deva is the most influential person in the region who runs Hindu Seva Samithi, but in reality, he is an undercover Islamic militant on a mission to release their terrorist group head imprisoned by the state administration. Deva is apparently a Hindu devotee who is bent upon teaching the Bhagavad Gita to every human he meets. Anjali happens to see an accident in which a bunch of Deva's henchmen die. She takes this opportunity to create and glorify a fictional character called "Azad". She writes a letter that Azad has done this assassination to end crime in the city & state. The word spreads like wildfire that there is a man called "Azad" who is the rescuer of the common man.

A humble and intelligent guy called Chandra Sekhar Azad (Akkineni Nagarjuna) from Rajahmundry, has a widowed mother (Kalairani), a beautiful sister Kaveri (Sujitha) and a cute fiancé, Kanaka Mahalakshmi (Shilpa Shetty) to take care of. As Kaveri's marriage is fixed, Azad goes to Hyderabad to get the five lakhs he saved in a chit fund company. There, he happens to be involved in a few bomb-blasting incidents and rescue incidents and avoids all the bomb blasts and crimes without his knowledge. People start to think that he is the "Azad". Anjali meets him and explains to him about her mission of ending crime in the state.

However, Azad is more interested in retrieving money from the chit fund company and going back to Rajahmundry to participate in his sister's marriage. He refuses to enact the role and take the responsibility of the legendary character "Azad". But later on, the chit fund company turns out to be bogus which was managed by Deva, to generate finance for the smuggling of ammunition to Pakistan. Upon seeing the victims of the chit fund company committing suicide, Azad wears the mask of 'Azad' to stop Deva's mission. All these incidents make Deva extremely frustrated, so he kills and blasts Kaveri at her wedding. Azad also comes to know that Deva is not a Hindu, but a Kashmiri Muslim terrorist who is on a mission to destroy India.

Deva demands the state administration for release of their militant leader in exchange for the lives of train passengers hijacked by Deva en route to Pakistan via Punjab, India. The rest of the plot deals with how Azad banishes Deva and his gang of militants.[1]

The music was composed by Mani Sharma. Music released on SUPREME Audio Company.

All lyrics are written by Piraisoodan, Muthulingam, and Ponniyin Selvan.

• Nandi Award for Best Feature Film - Silver - 2000
• Andhra Pradesh Film Journalists Association Award - 2000 - Akkineni Nagarjuna

• Azad at IMDb