Badrinath (film)

In order to protect the ancient Hindu temples from terrorists, religious guru and martial arts expert Bheeshma Narayan prepares an army. One day, when some of his students fail to recite a difficult hymn from the Vishnu Sahasranāma, he is surprised to listen Badri, a young boy, recite it without any mistakes. Impressed, Bheeshma convinces Badri's parents and takes him in. Badri grows up to become an efficient fighter and gets assigned to protect the Badrinath Temple. He soon comes across a visitor named Alakananda, whose grandfather becomes ill upon arriving in Badrinath. Badri manages to cure him and takes all of them to the temple, where Alakananda blows out the lamp, causing Badri to chase and throw her into the Alaknanda River. Her grandfather tells Bheeshma about her atheism and requests him to save her. Badri, as per his guru's orders, saves Alakananda, who is ordered to light 1 lakh lamps as the punishment. Badri convinces her to light the lamps with devotion, following which her grandfather reveals why she became an agnostic. Alakananda lost her faith in God after watching her parents die in the temple fire, and had to be brought to Badrinath because her life became endangered after insulting the wife of Sarkar, a dreaded don. As a form of revenge, she wants Alakananda to marry her son Nani. Listening to the truth, Badri promises to revive Alakananda's faith in God. In the meanwhile, the Amarnath Temple is attacked. With its protector killed and devotees threatened, Bheeshma summons Badri, who takes down all the terrorists and earns publicity. Alakananda soon falls for Badri and her faith in God is revived. She meets Badri's parents and confesses her love for him. They agree for their marriage but when Bheeshma tells them that he wants Badri to be his successor and for that remain unmarried, a heartbroken Alakananda starts to lose her faith once again, before Badri tells her he would unite her with her lover and help her get the Brahma lotus that must be offered to lord Badrinath for the fulfillment of her wish. She, however, doesn't reveal she loves him and follows him to the mountains.

In the meanwhile, Sarkar and his family learn about Badri through the Amarnath incident footage and Nani is sent to bring back Alakananda, only if Badri dies. Badri and Alakanada manage to get the Brahma lotus, but on their way are attacked by Nani and his henchmen. Badri fights them off while both Alakananda and Bheeshm Narayan make their respective wishes. He promises to bring her back after six months so that her wish gets fulfilled. In order to distract Badri, Nani throws a statue in the river and Badri jumps to catch it, killing all the henchmen who too jumped with him. However, he gets stabbed by Nani who claims Badri loves Alakananda, shocking Bheeshma whose suspicion grows when Badri gains consciousness and calls out Alakananda's name in front of everyone as she's being taken away. The temple is closed for six months, and Badri manages to survive. Alakananda's marriage is fixed with Nani after Sarkar kills her grandfather. Badri regains Bheeshma's trust and resumes his duties. After a drunk Nani attempts to rape Alakananda, she writes a letter asking Badri to come and rescue her. Bheeshma receives the letter and tears it, but Badri somehow comes across the pieces and sends her the same mountain soil he used to cure her grandfather, as a reply. She attempts to escape along with her friend Razia, but only the latter escapes. Razia meets and convinces Badri to go to Bellary and save Alakananda, while Sarkar and his goons destroy the ashram in the absence of both Badri and Bheeshma. Arriving at Bellary railway station, Badri warns Nani and his henchmen to stop, but their non-compliance results in Badri killing everyone and leaving Nani severely injured, while Razia escorts Alakananda to the station.

Seeing the ashram in ruins, Bheeshma's anger grows when he learns Badri took along the sword meant only for religious protection. Sarkar's wife is angry at him due to their son's condition and vengefully accompanies him to Badrinath. Badri and Alakananda arrive at the temple, but Bheeshma, feeling Badri has betrayed him, orders him to leave. Alakananda, however, goes in and thanks lord Badrinath for freeing Badri from the clutches of Bheeshma, before Sarkar arrives and orders his goons to capture her. Badri hands her over, revealing he only wanted to keep his promise of bringing her for worship, and that he doesn't love her or any other woman in the world. Bheeshma, seeing Badri's dedication for him instead, apologizes and allows him to worship, but seeing a devastated Alakananda's true love for him, orders him to save her. Badri fights off Sarkar and his goons, but spares him with a warning to not pursue Alakananda ever again. Bheeshma blesses Badri and Alakananda, before asking them to hand over their future child for training.

Allu Arjun grew his hair out for his look as a warrior in the film.[18]

Certified A (adults only) by the Central Board of Film Certification on the account of graphic action violence,[19] the film released theatrically along with its Malayalam dubbed version on 10 June 2011.

Badrinath received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Idlebrain.com gave a review of rating 3/5 stating "The plus points of the film are Allu Arjun (dances, fights and performance), cinematography and grand production values. On the flip side, narration lacks grip and screenplay should have been better. A film of this grandeur needs emotional support to make it likable. V. V. Vinayak who proved himself as a highly successful mass director with his earlier films falter this time to handle a subject of such a huge canvas." Idlebrain wrote: "Allu Arjun has taken tremendous pain in traveling to Vietnam to learn south-east-Asian martial arts for this movie. All his hard work shows up in the movie where he appears more like a warrior from south-east-Asian regions (Chinese or Japanese) with a pony tail and leather gear (chest belt and shoes). He is amazing with fluid movements in the dances. He is good with fights." Idlebrain also criticized the appearance of Prakash Raj stating that he looked more Asian.[20] Filmibeat also similarly rated 3/5 for the film.[21]

The grand audio launching event of Badrinath was held at Shilpakala Vedika on 7 May 2011. Allu Arjun, Sneha Reddy, Tamannaah, V. V. Vinayak, Allu Aravind, his wife Nirmala, M. M. Keeravani, K. Raghavendra Rao, A. Kodandarami Reddy, K. S. Rama Rao, Chiranjeevi, his wife Mrs. Surekha, Srija, Sukumar, S. S. Rajamouli, Rama Rajamouli, Boyapati Srinu, B. V. S. N. Prasad, B. Gopal, Srinu Vaitla, Anand Sai, S. Gopala Reddy, Tagore Madhu, K. Atchi Reddy, Chandrabose, Chinni Krishna, Chaitanya Prasad, Pokuri Babu Rao, etc., were prominent figures in the audio function.

K. Raghavendra Rao and Chiranjeevi released the audio CDs and presented the first copy to S. S. Rajamouli and V. V. Vinayak. Allu Aravind released the trailers.[22]

• Badrinath at IMDb
• Badrinath at Rotten Tomatoes