Indra (2002 film)

The film opens in a village in Andhra Pradesh showing the rivalry between two families. A police officer wishing to end this hostility comes up with the proposal of marriage between the two families which ultimately is used by Veera Siva Reddy as a trap to finish off his rival brothers, Bharata Simha Reddy and Vijayasimha Reddy. After the funeral, no one is willing to stake a claim for the leadership of the clan when the young Indrasena Reddy, Bharata Simha Reddy's son, comes in and tells his grandmother that he will.

The story then moves to 2002 in Varanasi. Shankar Narayana is a taxi driver who has his own boat, makes an honest living, and is held in high regard by the members of his adopted family. During a singing competition held in his niece's college, her friend Pallavi sees him and falls in love. Pretending to be an orphan, she starts staying with Shankar Narayana and his family. Pallavi's father Chenna Kesava Reddy is the governor of Uttar Pradesh. Upon finding his daughter missing, he carries out a search and discovers that she is staying with a taxi driver and his family. He sends out an attack on his family. Enraged he goes to his house to discover that she is staying with Shankar Narayana. He folds his hands and greets him and it is hinted that he knows something about Shankar Narayana's past. The story carries on to Shankar Narayana's niece's wedding. Giri (Sivaji), who stays with Shankar Narayana and his family as a student says that he loved Shankar Narayana's niece. After the marriage, in the area only, Snehalata Reddy comes with her brother Veera Shankar Reddy, Siva Reddy's eldest son. Snehalata tells Giri to get up, and reveals that Giri is actually Veera Manohar Reddy, Veera Shankar Reddy's son, and Snehalata's nephew. She also reveals that Shankar Narayana is really Indrasena Reddy. After the marriage is over, Valmiki, Indrasena's loyal friend, tells the past of Shankar Narayana.

Indrasena Reddy/Shankar Narayana was held in regard in his village. He used to work for the benefit of the people. Siva Reddy, who had murdered Indrasena's family, is warned by him not to return to the village. Siva Reddy returns and, in the ensuing battle, Indrasena kills him. After this, his sons swear revenge on Indrasena and his family. One day Indrasena saves a boy from being run over by a truck – he turns out to be Veera Shankar Reddy's son. Veera Shankar Reddy is furious that his son was saved by his enemy, and he kills his own son. Indrasena, upon hearing this, storms Veera Shankar Reddy's house and confronts him. He buries the boy in the courtyard and plants a sapling over it and tells the boy's mother to pour water to the plant every day, also warning the brothers that if anything were to happen to the plant, he would kill all of them. Snehalatha (Siva Reddy's daughter) sees this, falls for Indrasena, and tells him that she will marry him.

The town has been suffering from drought. When one of the villagers tell Indrasena this, he goes to Chenna Kesava Reddy, previously a collector, and asks to build a reservoir because the poor don't have enough water supply. The government is unable to help because the place where the reservoir can be constructed is owned by Veera Shankar Reddy and his family who are not giving it up. Indrasena calls a meeting and asks them to hand over the land in exchange for whatever they want. The brothers ask for all of his property and a promise that he will leave the village while Snehalata asks Indrasena to marry her. Indrasena agrees and the reservoir is built. On the day of the wedding, unknown to Snehalata, her elder brother murders Indrasena's sisters and their husbands. In a state of rage, Indrasena goes on a rampage, killing three of the brothers. Snehalata swears revenge and sends her nephew, Veera Manohar Reddy, to seduce Indrasena's niece.

Indrasena then returns to his village of Rayalaseema. Later Snehalata realizes the truth of her brother killing Indrasena's family by Veera Shankar Reddy's brother-in-law as she tells it to her brother, and asks Veera Manohar Reddy to go ahead and marry Indrasena's niece. Veera Shankar Reddy starts a chase for them as they go in the car and finally Indrasena battles all of them but does not kill Veera Shankar Reddy and suggests that they end the rivalry here only. In the end, Snehalata and Pallavi try to convince Indrasena Reddy to marry them but neither is successful as he still wants to work for the people.

The audio soundtrack of Indra was released on the evening of 14 June 2002 at a neatly erected set in the first floor of Annapurna Studios. This event was a private affair between Chiru fans and the Vijayanthi movie unit. The celebrities who graced this occasion were the Paruchuri brothers (dialogue writers), Aswini Dutt (producer), Chinni Krishna (story writer), VSR Swamy (cinematographer), Sirivennela Seeta Rama Sastry (lyrics writer) and Chiranjeevi. The function started off with a welcome by Raghu Kunche and Suma. Gemini TV covered this event and it was telecast as a 30-minute capsule on Gemini TV. Chiranjeevi selected a coupon from the lucky dip box and called the lucky fan to the stage. Chiranjeevi opened the audio box and handed over the first cassette to that fan, who was so elated that he tried to touch Chiranjeevi's feet, but Chiranjeevi stopped him from doing so. The audio hit the market on 17 June 2002. [5]

Indra was released in 268 screens, including 223 in Andhra Pradesh, 30 in Karnataka, three in Odisha and 15 in the United States.[6]

• The film had collected a distributors' share of ₹80 million in its opening week.[7]
• It had a 50-day run in 151 centres, including nine in Karnataka and two in Odisha.[8]
• It had a 100-day run in 98 centres, including four in Karnataka.[9]
• It had a 175-day run in 32 centres[10] including a 227-day run in Satyam theatre, Adoni.[10]

This movie was one of the biggest hits in Chiranjeevi's film career. Jeevi of Idlebrain had given a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stating, "First half is a perfect blend of mass and class elements. It's extraordinary. The interval scene gives the right finishing touch to the first half."[11]

• Indra at IMDb