Leader (2010 film)

Leader is a 2010 Telugu political drama Romantic film written and directed by Sekhar Kammula, marking the acting debut of Rana Daggubati in the lead role, with Priya Anand female lead role and Richa Gangopadhyay supporting role. This film was produced by AVM Productions.

Leader
Movie Poster
Directed bySekhar Kammula
Produced by
Written bySekhar Kammula
Starring
Music byMickey J Meyer
CinematographyVijay C. Kumar
Edited byMarthand K Venkatesh
Production
company
Distributed byGeetha Arts
Release date
  • 19 February 2010 (2010-02-19)
Running time
171 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTelugu

Plot

This movie starts off with the assassination of Sanjeevayya (Suman), the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. His last wish is for his son Arjun Prasad (Rana Daggubati) to become the next Chief Minister. However, Arjun's cousin Dhanunjay (Subbaraju) has his own dreams of becoming the Chief Minister. Arjun is approached by Ali (Harsha Vardhan), who has given 10 crores to Sanjeevayya to resolve a land dispute in Ali's favour. Arjun finds about his father's corruption, and his mother Rajeswari Devi (Suhasini Maniratnam) validates it while sharing Sanjeevayya's desire for a casteless and corruption-less government. Arjun's uncle Mahadevayya (Kota Srinivasa Rao), whom he refers to as Peddaina (Sanjeevayya's elder brother), tolerates corruption as long as it helps his family stay in power. Arjun decides to implement his father's dream and enrolls Ali and a news reporter named Ratna (Priya Anand) to quietly win support of his party's MLAs. Arjun bribes his way to win support from MLAs and ministers and is elected Chief Minister. An angry Dhanunjay attempts to assassinate Arjun and is asked to resign.

Arjun encounters resistance from his own party in his drive to eliminate corruption and plots to win support of Alliance Party leader Munnuswami's (Ahuti Prasad) daughter Archana (Richa Gangopadhyay) by making her fall for him. His attempts to woo her are successful, and he saves his government while losing Archana's support when she realizes that she has been used. As a condition for Munnuswami's support, he lets an MLA's son go scot free, even though the son was accused of raping and murdering of young tribal girl. His mother Rajeswari Devi rebukes Arjun's move and warns the step as compromises that lead to corruption. That same night, she dies. Arjun resolves to go ahead with his corruption elimination drive and resigns the same evening while creating sensation in the media for exposing corruption.

Arjun wins the ensuing election after leaving his uncle's party and establishing a new party. His effort wins back Archana's support.

Cast

Critical reception

Leader opened to rave reviews from critics. The Times Of India gave a three star rating noting "Another lineage star Rana Daggubati takes his first bow at the Box Office with an inspiring political saga, he puts in a surprisingly mature performance (for a debutant) and shines in his role of a savvy young CEO of a US-based company who turns a conniving politician with effortless ease."[1]

Radhika Rajamani from Rediff also gave a three star rating and said "The film is a relevant take on contemporary politics in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Performance-wise, Sekhar scores. His choice Suhasini as Arjun's mother is good. She brings grace and dignity to her role. An impressive debut, indeed. Richa Gangopadhyay looks pretty and charming. Harshavardhan (who plays Ali) and Priya Anand (Ratna Prabha) are competent in their roles. Mickey J Meyer's music is good too."[2]

Sify explains "The technical aspects of the film are highly impressive with superb cinematography, excellent music and terrific background score. The first half is gripping, giving some promising moments to the audience. But, the second half slips into monotony thanks to the slipshod treatment to the political subject." However it praised the lead performances, saying "Rana has certainly lived up to the expectations of the audiences with his looks and thoroughly trained histrionics."[3]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack has music composed by Mickey J. Meyer. The music was released on 22 November 2009.

Leader
Soundtrack album by
Released22 November 2009 (2009-11-22)
Recorded2009
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length31:26
LabelAditya Music
ProducerMickey J. Meyer
Mickey J. Meyer chronology
Ganesh
(2009)
Leader
(2009)
Maro Charitra
(2010)
Track list
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Maa Telugu Thalliki"Sankarambadi SundarachariTanguturi Suryakumari4:56
2."Aunana Kaadana"Veturi Sundararama MurthyNaresh Iyer, Shweta Pandit5:13
3."Vandemataram"Veturi Sundararama MurthyNakash Aziz3:50
4."Rajasekhara"Veturi Sundararama MurthyShweta Pandit5:29
5."Hey CM"Veturi Sundararama MurthySunitha Sarathy5:16
6."Sreelu Pongina"Rayaprolu Subba RaoKrishna Chaithanya, Siddharth, Kranthi, Sashi Kiran & Aditya3:18
7."Leader Theme" (Instrumental)  3:24
Total length:31:26

References

  1. "Leader movie review: Wallpaper, Story, Trailer at Times of India". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  2. "Review: Leader comes at the right time – Rediff.com Movies". Movies.rediff.com. 19 February 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  3. "Movie Review : Leader". Sify.com. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
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