Brindavanam (2010 film)

In mid July 2009, it was informed that Dil Raju would produce a film with N. T. Rama Rao Jr. titled Brindavanam with the caption Govindudu Andari Vadele which would be directed by Vamsi Paidipally who worked with Dil Raju previously in 2007 for the Average grosser Munna which starred Prabhas and Ileana in the lead roles. It was also said that the film would start its shoot in September 2009.[7] The film was launched at Annapurna Studios in Hyderabad on 15 August 2009. On that day, it was declared that S. Thaman composed the music, Chota K. Naidu handled the Cinematography, Koratala Siva penned the dialogues while Ram-Lakshman composed the fights for the film.[8] A Traditional and beautiful Villa set was constructed by Art director Anand Sai near Bachupally in 3 out of 4 acres land with the rest 1 acre utilized for a beautiful garden arrangement with refreshing environment which was dismantled on the film's completion.[9]

Initially, it was said that Dil Raju opted to select a new heroine opposite N. T. Rama Rao Jr. in this film.[10] But Dil Raju later planned to select Trisha Krishnan as the heroine opposite N. T. Rama Rao Jr.[11] However Kajal Aggarwal replaced Trisha as the heroine as she latter opted out of the project citing lack of Dates.[12] By late November 2009, it was informed that one of the heroines was yet to be confirmed while Kota Srinivasa Rao, Prakash Raj and Srihari would appear in crucial roles.[13] During an interaction with the media, Kajal Aggarwal revealed about her character in the film in mid January 2010. She spoke "My character in the film is more like myself. It has been great working with NTR and the director Vamsi Paidipalli. I play Bhoomi in the film, who is very reserved and quite an introvert. I am enjoying every moment working for the film".[14] Even before release of her debut film Ye Maaya Chesave on 19 February, Samantha Ruth Prabhu was selected as the second heroine in mid February 2010.[15]

Though it was planned that the film would start its shooting from 27 November 2009, the filming ultimately started from 1 December 2009 as N. T. Rama Rao Jr.'s preceding project Adhurs was in its final stage of production.[13][16] The shooting continued in Pollachi at Tamil Nadu and there the first schedule of the shoot was completed. The makers planned the second schedule from 21 December to 6 January in Hyderabad.[17] During the shoot of second schedule, when the filming was continuing inside the Government Junior College on the Qurshid Jha Devidi premises at Hussainialam in the old city area of Hyderabad, a group of Telangana Rashtra Samithi activists assembled at the entrance. The agitators urged the film unit to stop the shooting and when the director came out to pacify them, the protesters urged him to raise Jai Telangana slogan and left as the latter obliged.[18] In the end of January 2010, a chase sequence was shot near Shabdalaya Studios at Banjara Hills in Hyderabad under the supervision of Peter Hynes.[19] In early February 2010, it was reported that the shooting continued in Pollachi again from 19 February 2010.[20] After returning from Pollachi, the shooting continued in a specially constructed set at Miyapur in Hyderabad in the end of February 2010. Then it was reported that the shooting would continue at Badami in Karnataka and parts of Kerala after completion of the scheduled shoot in the House.[21]

Athirappilly Falls in Thrissur district of Kerala where parts of the film's climax and few crucial sequences were shot.

After a brief gap, the shooting continued at Vikarabad forest area in the end of June 2010 where a fight sequence was shot in the supervision of prominent fight choreographers Ram-Lakshman.[22] However, the shooting was postponed for a week due to the sudden death of Kota Srinivasa Rao's son Kota Prasad.[23] After canning a couple of fights and songs, the filming was said to continue in the beautiful locales of Greece with one of the two songs left to be picturised to be shot.[24] In early August 2010, N. T. Rama Rao Jr. joined the sets of the film at the Villa set constructed at Bachupally.[9] There the climax sequence was shot from 12 August 2010 which was followed by a song shoot on the leads at Annapurna Studios.[25]

But N. T. Rama Rao Jr. was injured on the sets while performing a stunt sequence with ropes near Kokapet Mines. He was immediately rushed to KIMS hospital in Begumpet and got six stitches on his forehead. He was discharged by afternoon but was advised a 3-day rest by the doctors thus delaying the shoot.[26] Later a part of the climax sequence and some crucial sequences were shot in Kerala at Chalakudy near Cochin including Athirapally waterfalls.[27] Later the filming continued in Switzerland for 10 days where the song Nijamena was shot on N. T. Rama Rao Jr. and Kajal Aggarwal.[28] After some patch work, the entire shooting ended on 15 September 2010.[29]

The film was distributed by Sri Venkateswara Creations all over Andhra Pradesh. In early April 2010, the film's USA screening rights were sold to BlueSky Cinemas, Inc. along with Rama Rama Krishna Krishna which was also produced by Dil Raju.[38] In mid April 2010, EuroAndhra released a press note confirming that they acquired the screening rights of the film along with Rama Rama Krishna Krishna and Siddharth starrer Baava in UK/EU and they thanked BlueSky Cinemas, Inc. for giving them the opportunity.[39]

The film received generally positive reviews from critics. NDTV gave a review stating "Vamsi, now proves that he, too, can top the Box Office with his subject and narration of a story. Koratala Siva's dialogues and Chota K Naidu's camera have helped him to realise his dream of putting together a good entertainer. NTR's performance is unquestionably the highlight of the film. "[40] Idlebrain.com gave a review stating "First half of the movie is adequate. Major part of the second half is entertaining. Climax of the movie is debatable. The plus points are NTR and entertainment in second half. On the flip side, the story of the movie gives us deja vu feeling in many aspects and the emotional part should have been natural. Brindavanam is a decent and clean movie with enough ingredients to make it work at box office. It is up to NTR to get a range for the movie" and rated the film 3.25/5.[41] IndiaGlitz gave a review stating "Vamsi scripted a perfect screenplay for the film and it was so tight that the audiences could not move out of their seats and make them stick even in song sequences. Each and every scene in the movie was narrated with precision and the director should be commended for running the movie with perfection. You can watch the film with the whole family because of entertainment values. Definitely the film will give you a relief after a stressful day."[42] Oneindia Entertainment gave a review stating "Though the story has the shades of old films, Vamsi has scripted a tight screenplay and he has narrated every scene with precision. You can watch the film with a family because of the entertainment values. Dil Raju is once again back on track. Vamsi Paidipalli has brought a smile on his face with his wholesome entertainer."[43]

Brindavanam opened to positive reports and became the biggest hit in Jr. NTR's career. The film collected the highest opening numbers in Jr NTR's career and second best opening week of all time behind SS Rajamouli's Magadheera. Brindavanam ran for 50 days in 158 centers[44][45] and 100 days in 11 direct centers.[46] Brindavanam became the fifth biggest grosser of Telugu cinema by the end of its theatrical run and the fifth Telugu cinema to cross ₹30 crore share mark.[47]