Brahma (2014 film)

Director R. Chandru, who tasted success from his previous venture Charminar revealed his intention to direct his next venture on 1 April 2013.[4] He announced that he is going to direct Upendra in a film titled Bramha - The Leaderand the shoot for the film will commence in the first week of May. He also announced that the venture would be a Kannada - Telugu bilingual project and actors from the Kannada and Telugu film industries would be acting in Bramha. He then quickly roped in actors Nassar and Shayaji Shinde to play the pivotal roles.

For the female lead, director approached actress Trisha who turned down the offer citing personal reasons.[5] Later actresses Deeksha Seth and Deepa Sannidhi were considered but could not finalize.[6] Finally, actress Pranitha was signed in to play the role who immediately agreed upon hearing the script.[7]

The principal photography of the film began on 15 May 2013 at the backdrop of the Bangalore palace and the audio recording launch began two days prior to this at the Gurukiran studios.[8] After launching in Bangalore Palace and song recording muhurth in Gurukiran Studio the film team went straight to Lalith Mahal Palace in Mysore for eight days shooting. After this schedule the director and team are moving to Bangkok portion of shooting.

The film opened to mostly positive reviews from the critics. SandalwoodBoxOffice.com rated the film 3.75/5 and called it a brilliant entertainer with good story, acting, and action.[10] Shyam Prasad of Bangalore mirror rated the film 3/5 saying "Shekar Chandru is at the top of his game. Be it the battle scenes of the 15th century or the car chase in Malaysia, he makes it look great. Brahma aspires to be a film taken seriously. But in the end, it is just a commercial film."[11] CineLoka rated the film 3.75/5 and called it a "Brilliant Entertainer".[12] Sandesh of One India rated the film 3/5 and said "The director is successful in showing Upendra in five shades. As Upendra is also an admired director among Kannadigas and others, there is a lot of expectations from the movie. Well, to be more accurate, director R Chandru has not disappointed Upendra's fans in the film."[13] The Hans India rated the film 3/5 and said "The film spans four generations and costumes are definitely the talking point. If you are an Uppi fan, you will love this film which is a typical Upendra film which bears all the trademarks of the actor."[14] GS Kumar of the Times of India rated the film 3.5/5 and said, "With complete grip over the lively script laced with witty dialogues, the director has narrated the story excellently keeping the interest alive till the end. Upendra rightly fits into the role and has done a neat job. Though Praneetha's role is limited, her expressions are impressive. Rangayana Raghu is sure to make you laugh with a brilliant performance. Suresh Mangalore and Nazar are graceful. Shekhar Chandra's cinematography is lovely. Music by Gurukiran has nothing much to offer."[15] India Glitz rated the film 7.5/10 saying "Director R Chandru is scaling heights with big thoughts, big canvas and tremendous marketing skills to promote his product. A successful director with most successful hero Upendra has not given room for drop for a few seconds in 'Brahma'. He has made such a captivating, concern filled, chilling moments, close to heart at the end film 'Brahma' - surely a wholesome entertainer with ingredients well measured and transmitted on silver screen. Upendra has given different shades required for the acting. He dances well, action is fabulous and looks in different get up is undoubtedly mass hero. The technical aspects of this film editing, graphics and 16th century well adjusted, 70s shade are convincingly portrayed on the screen."[16]

Brahma took a grand opening at the box office by collecting a whopping ₹ 36 million on its first day in a record breaking 276 screens and 1076 shows all over Karnataka. Even though release in too many theaters limited the number of houseful screenings, the overall collection was huge. Brahma had a spectacular opening weekend and collected a total of ₹ 97.5 million in its opening weekend which is the highest weekend collection for a Kannada movie.[17] The break-up, according to director R Chandru, is ₹ 36.5 million (Friday), ₹ 24 million (Saturday) and ₹ 37 million (Sunday). But collection gradually fades the following week and It was declared as super hit By Box Office India.