Villain (2003 film)

Guru and Vishnu (both played by Rajasekhar) are identical twins. Guru, the elder one, is a bus conductor, while Vishnu, the younger one, has a mild intellectual disability. Guru overhears his parents' plot to kill Vishnu. He runs away to another city with Vishnu and strives hard to look after him. Vijayan, who runs a beggar trade, beats Vishnu brutally, and Vishnu becomes handicapped for life. Guru leaves Vishnu in a home run by a social worker (Sujatha). During the day, Guru works as a bus conductor, and at the same time, poses as Vishnu: to play Robin Hood and steal from the rich and corrupt. A gang including Neha Dhupia and others assist him in these operations. He is never suspected, and so, with the stolen money, he takes care of not only Vishnu, but also 800 people in other institutions for the physically handicapped. A college student Tulip Joshi falls in love with Guru, but he later comes to know she is Vijayan's sister-in-law. Matters worsen when Vijayan becomes the chairman of the institute for the physically disabled. How Guru deals with the situation forms the rest of the story. Meanwhile, Neha is in love with Guru, though he does not know this. Later she gives up her love and lets Tulip marry Guru. At last, Guru marries Tulip and Neha marries Vishnu.

Rajasekhar watched Villain and enjoyed the film, but was initially hesitant to act in a remake. He decided to act in the remake after a member of his team encouraged him to do so.[1] Neha Dhupia, who did an item number, in Ninne Ishtapaddanu, was signed to make her Telugu film debut with this film.[2]

Vidyasagar composed the songs for the film.[3] Sohan Music bought the audio rights for the soundtrack. The audio launch for Villain was held on 29 October 2003. Chandrababu Naidu, the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, released the audio of the film and gave the first cassette to Pullela Gopichand, a badminton player. An event was held at Annapurna Studios in Hyderabad. During the event, Rajashekhar, the vice president of the Red Cross of Andhra Pradesh donated 50 stitching machines and wheel chairs. AVS (who is a part of the film) and Anitha handled the event.[1]

• Panchadara Chilaka - Udit Narayan, Sadhana Sargam
• Naa Gunde Gudilo - P. Unnikrishnan, Sujatha Mohan
• Dummeyika Dulipeyyara - Karthik, Swarnalatha
• Ee Paadu Goododili - S. P. Balasubramaniam
• Hello Hello Mahaasaya - Tippu, Shalini Singh, Harini
• Vaadichoopo Vedichoopo - Shankar Mahadevan, Sujatha

The film was scheduled to release on 14 November to coincide with Children's Day.[1] Idlebrain gave the film of 2.75 out of 5 and stated how the director, K. S. Ravikumar, didn't make enough changes to the film to suit the Telugu audience. The reviewer also commented on how the first half of the film resembles Gentleman.[2] The Full Hyderabad criticized the film and wrote how there is nothing good about the film save for Rajashekhar's performance and the twins' childhood scene.[4]