Karthikeya (film)

Kumararama temple at Samarlakota, one of the places where the film was shot.

After Swamy Ra Ra, Nikhil Siddharth signed his next film directed by his friend Chandoo Mondeti in which he was supposed to play "a smart, well educated, suave young man studying MBBS".[11] He also revealed that his character in the film is very curious and a sort of Sherlock Holmes kind of person. For his role, Nikhil had to increase his weight by 10 kilos and did research for the role which involved spending time with medical students and doctors before the shooting and had to overcome the fear of injections and blood.[12]

Swati Reddy was signed as the lead actress considering her popularity in Tamil and also she was the lead actress in Swamy Ra Ra.[13]

It was known that Venkat Srinivas would produce this film on Magnus Cine Prime Pvt. Ltd. banner while Shekhar Chandra would compose the music. Then it was announced that majority of the film will be shot in Visakhapatnam, Araku and Kumararama temple in Samarlakota.[4] The title and the film's logo were also unveiled there.[14] Principal photography began on 5 July 2013.[15]

The film's second schedule was wrapped up by 29 August 2013 and scenes on the lead pair including two songs were shot.[16] In early October 2014, the film was shot in and around Kumbakonam including a beautiful Subramanya Swamy temple there. By then 70% of the film's shoot was wrapped up.[11] The film's final schedule commenced on 15 November 2013 on whose completion the film's shoot was expected to end.[17] On 4 February 2014 a press release confirmed that the filming is complete except for one song.[18] Filming ended nearly on 21 February 2014 and post production works began.[6] CG works were in progress during mid-April 2014 and Tanikella Bharani said that he would be seen as Swati's father.[19] In July 2014, it was known that nearly 50% of the film was shot in and around Tamil Nadu.[7]

N. Lingusamy bought the film's Tamil rights while a Malayalam dubbed version was planned.[11] The film was launched on 10 June 2013 in Hyderabad with N. Lingusamy, Sudheer Varma and Parasuram in attendance.

A 90 seconds teaser was launched on 1 December 2013 at Hyderabad.[30] The first look poster featuring Nikhil Siddharth and the temple was unveiled on 5 February 2014.[31] The first look posters of Tamil version titled Karthikeyan were unveiled on 5 March 2014.[32] On 18 October 2014 the making video of the film's posters was released.[33] On 21 October 2014, Nikhil and the film's unit conducted a publicity tour in five towns viz. Guntur, Vijaywada, Eluru, Rajahmundry and Kakinada to paste the first release posters of the movie respectively.[34] Nikhil, Swati and Chandoo promoted the film on the talk show Ali Talkies hosted by comedian Ali.[35]

The film received generally positive reviews from critics. Y. Sunita Chowdary of The Hindu wrote "The narration is good, keeps the curiosity factor alive. There is sufficient humor and romance to keep the film balanced and the story is about the crime but about the mindset of the criminal who uses a clever mix of science and religion to plan a brilliant murder".[36] Hemanth Kumar of The Times of India wrote "The good thing about the film is that it sticks to its storyline and everyone seems to know what they are doing. Karthikeya is one of the finer films made in the recent past and in times like these, that in itself is like a big compliment" and rated the film 3.5 out of 5.[37] Suresh Kavirayani of Deccan Chronicle wrote "Despite its drawbacks ‘Karthikeya’ is a very refreshing film and Chandu Mondeti's debut can be termed a success. It is a thriller with tight screenplay a new story. Whoever feels bored with the regular song-dance masala films, should watch this thriller for a change" and rated the film 3 out of 5.[38] Sify wrote "Overall Karthikeya is different from regular commercial movies that dot the Telugu screen. Like we said it is a suspense thriller that mixes bhakti and rational thinking quite well to large extent and we do appreciate the producer and the actor Nikhil for attempting something novel".[39] 123telugu stated "On the whole, Karthikeya is one of the most refreshing films in the recent past. Novel concept, gripping screenplay, Nikhil’s performance and cleverly designed suspense elements make this film different from others, and ends up as quite an engaging watch this weekend" and rated it 3.5 out of 5.[40] Jeevi of Idlebrain.com wrote "Actor Nikhil and producer should be appreciated for agreeing to do a film that is different from regular Telugu movies. Supported by a neat screenplay and a bit of comedy, debutant director Chandoo Mondeti delivers a decent movie. Additional plus point of the movie is runtime. The minus points of the movie are slow-paced narration. The family drama and romance didn’t work well. On a whole, Karthikeya is a different yet interesting movie" and rated it 3.25 out of 5.[41] Oneindia Entertainment and IndiaGlitz called the film a one time watch and both rated it 3 out of 5.[42][43][44]

Karthikeya got a brilliant opening at the worldwide box office on its first day.[45] The film collected approximately ₹23.5 million (US$330,000) at the Indian box office in the first weekend of 3 days and ₹7.56 million (US$110,000) at USA box office taking its three-day total to ₹31.0 million (US$430,000) nett thus recovering more than 50% of its production cost.[1] The film collected ₹100 million (US$1.4 million) in its first week at the Global Box office and entered profit zone.[46] The film cashed in on the mixed response for Current Theega and managed to collect a total of ₹150 million (US$2.1 million) in 9 days at the Global box office.[29] Despite new releases, the film stood strong by the end of its third weekend and grossed ₹200 million (US$2.8 million) in 17 days.[2]