Athadu (అతడు) (2005) Review

Saturday, June 02, 2012 – by
Athadu (Telugu: అతడు) is a 2005 Telugu film produced by RamMohan.M and D.Kishore and directed by Trivikram Srinivas. The movie stars Mahesh Babu, Trisha Krishnan, Sonu Sood, Nassar and Prakash Raj. The movie soundtrack was scored by Mani Sharma. The film released on 10 August 2005. The film went on to become one of the highest grossing films in Tollywood. But this film story line is loosely based on 1988 Telugu movie Varasudochhadu starring Venkatesh. The movie was dubbed into Tamil and Malayalam languages as Nandhu and Target respectively. Athadu has also been remade in Hindi as Ek The Power of One and in Bengali as Wanted.


Plot ::

Nanda Gopal /Nandu (Mahesh Babu) is a professional assassin, and Malli (Sonu Sood) is his partner. They charge Rs. 1.5 crore per assassination.
A party leader, Shiva Reddy (Sayaji Shinde), wants someone to attempt an assassination on him so that he can get more sympathy votes in the upcoming election. Shiva Reddy's colleague Baji Reddy(Kota Srinivasa Rao) hooks him up with Nandu for a deal. However, before Nandu can shoot Shiva Reddy, someone else fatally shoots him. Within minutes, police surround the building. Just before the exit of the building, a big car accident occurs on the street with Nandu's car. Nandu assumes that Malli got trapped and died in the accident. So Nandu goes to the top of the skyscraper. With the police behind him and in front of him, he is helpless. Suddenly a train comes and Nandu uses a rope to jump from the skyscraper to the train.
On the train, Nandu meets Pardhu (Rajiv Kanakala). Pardhu reveals that he ran away from his village, Basarlapudi, when he was young. Pardhu explains that he is finally returning to his village. Later that same evening, while aiming for Nandu, the police accidentally shoot Pardhu. Nandu escapes and decided to go to Basarlapudi. Thinking that Nandu is Pardhu, Pardhu's family accepts Nandu into their family.
Meanwhile, a CBI officer, Anjaneya Prasad (Prakash Raj), investigating the murder of Shiva Reddy comes across Nandu alias Pardhu. He suspects Nandu of Shiva Reddy's murder.He tries taking Nandu's fingerprints unconventionally but Nandu outsmarts him. Soon clues lead to Malli but he is dead.
Meanwhile, in Barslapudi, after the marriage of the grand-daughter was over, the CBI come because they find out that Nandu is not Pardhu and suspect that Nandu is the killer. Nandu learns of the situation and flees. After the CBI leave, Nandu returns to explain everything: who is he and how the real Pardhu got killed. At first the family shows no interest in helping Nandu to find the real assassin as they are all shocked but the grandfather (Nassar) helps Nandu by giving him a gun. Nandu calls Baji Reddy and demands to know who killed Shiva Reddy. At first, Baji Reddy refuses but after Nandu tells him that he recorded their first conservation on the phone, Baji Reddy reveals everything. It was Malli who killed Shiva Reddy for 2 crores. He faked his death by sending a drunkard in the car at the time of the accident. Nandu records this conversation and immediately leaves for the old church, where Malli is. Nandu and Malli meet and Nandu has the gun loaded before Malli. But the same policemen who killed Pardhu barge in. Nandu manages to kill all of them and also kill Malli. Nandu hands over the recorded cassette to the CBI officer. The CBI officer goes directly to Bajji Reddy's office and tells him that he will hand him over to the police. Baji Reddy tells him that he has no concrete evidence. The CBI officer tells him that the tape is evidence enough for Siva Reddy's hot headed son,who has vowed vengeance for his father's death.Trapped without any recourse,Baji Reddy commits suicide. In the last scene, Nandu immerses Pardhu's ashes and the CBI officer lets him go to Pardhu's real family, where he plans to stay forever.

Cast ::

*Mahesh Babu ... Nanda Gopal / Nandu / Pardhu
*Trisha Krishnan ... Puri
*Sonu Sood ... Malli
*Prakash Raj ... Anjaneya Prasad (CBI Officer)
*Nassar ... Satya Narayana Murthy
*Brahmanandam ... Uncle of Puri
*Sunil ... Ramana
*Sayaji Shinde ... Shiva Reddy
*Rajiv Kanakala ... Pardhasaradhi alias Pardhu
*Kota Srinivasa Rao ... Baaji Reddy
*Uday Nair ... Puri's Kid Brother
*Rahul Dev ... Sadhu
*Ajay ... Pratap Reddy
*Sudha ... Aunt (Mom of puri)
*Giri Babu ... Puri's father
*K. Vishwanath ... CBI Officer
*Dharmavarapu Subramanyam ... Uncle of Puri
*Tanikella Bharani ... Naidu
*Brahmaji ... Nagasamudram Bujji
*Posani Krishna Murali ... Farooq

Crew ::

*Producer: Murali Mohan & Jayabheri Kishore
*Art: Thotta Tharani
*Cinematography: K.V. Guhan
*Stunts: Peter Heins
*Music: Mani Sharma
*Choreography: Vaibhavi Merchant, Raju Sundaram, & Brinda
*Editing: Sreekar Prasad

Soundtrack ::


No. Title Lyrics
1. "Adharaka Badule Cheppeti"  
2. "Pillagali"  
3. "Avunu Nijam"  
4. "Chandamama"  
5. "Neetho Cheppana"  
6. "Pilichina Raanantaava"  

Awards ::

Nandi Awards
*Best Actor - Mahesh Babu
*Best Dialogue Writer - Trivikram Srinivas
Filmfare Awards South
*Best Director - Trivikram Srinivas
Santosham Film Awards
*Best Film - M. Rammohan

Release ::

The film was released with 6 prints in U.S.A. and in 3 screens in Chennai.
The DVD version of the movie was released by KAD under its IDREAM Brand, and won the best DVD award for its quality

Box Office Performance ::
*The film netted Rs.10.5 lakhs from 3 screens in Chennai in its opening weekend debuting at no. 2.
*It collected approximately Rs.40 million in its total run,thus becoming the sensational hit of 2005 in Tollywood.Its satellite rights were sold for Rs.18 million.
*The film had a 50 days run in 205 centres Athadu 50 days centres and a 100-day run in 38 centres. *The film had a 175-day run in Sudarshan 35 mm, Hyderabad., grossing Rs.10.40 million from the theatre.




- Source 
Wikipedia