Badrinath (film)

Badrinath
Movie poster
Directed by	V. V. Vinayak
Produced by	Allu Aravind
Written by	Chinni Krishna[1]
Screenplay by	V. V. Vinayak
Story by	Chinni Krishna
Starring	Allu Arjun Tamannaah Prakash Raj Kelly Dorjee Ashwini Kalsekar
Music by	M. M. Keeravani
Cinematography	Ravi Varman
Edited by	Gowtam Raju
Production company	Geetha Arts
Distributed by	Geetha Arts
Release date	10 June 2011 (2011-06-10) [2]
Running time	140 minutes
Country	India
Language	Telugu
Budget	₹ 41 crore
Box office	₹ 53 crore[3]

Badrinath is a 2011 Indian Telugu-language action film directed by V. V. Vinayak, written by Chinni Krishna and produced by Allu Aravind. The film stars his son Allu Arjun in leading role along with Tamannaah and Prakash Raj. The film revolves around Badri, a skilled warrior trained by a religious Guru Bheeshma Narayan. After being made the protector of Badrinath temple, he finds his loyalties divided when he tries to revive the faith of Alakananda, an atheist, in God and gets caught in violent battles with her cruel uncle Sarkar, while his Guru suspects him to be in love with Alakananda, something against the rules for becoming his successor.

Allu Arjun, who plays the protagonist, undertook intensive martial arts and sword fighting training in Vietnam.^[4][5] This film also marks his first pairing with Tamannaah.^[6] Cinematographer Ravi Varman in an interview told that the film was shot on a Panavision lens at a set in Kulaba on the way to the Rohtang pass apart from the Badrinath temple, on sets in Hyderabad and in Spain, Italy, Germany and Austria.^[7] Earlier, it was reported that the film will also have a dubbed version in Tamil with actor Santhanam's comedy scenes being added, but the plan was dropped out due to the commercial failure of the Tamil dubbed versions of Telugu films Shakti and Magadheera.^[8][9]

Previously slated to release on 4 June 2011^[10], the film along with a dubbed Malayalam version was released on 10 June 2011 in 1,400 screens worldwide and ran for 50 days in 187 theatres. According to an article in The Times of India, "Despite mixed record tendered by critics, the acceptable storyline and script work, the thrills and stunts, the gyrations of choreography by Allu Arjun have lured the audience to the screens."^[11] It also became the second highest Telugu grosser in Karnataka after Magadheera that time.^[12] The film had an opening day record of ₹7.25 crore (US$1.0 million) which was later surpassed by Allu Arjun's own film Julayi in 2012.^[13] Prem Rakshith won the Filmfare Award for Best Dance Choreographer for the film's song Nath Nath.^[14]

The movie was also dubbed and released in Hindi as Sangharsh Aur Vijay in the year 2012. The film was made on a budget of ₹42 crore (US$5.8 million), and was one of the most expensive Telugu films at that time.^[15]

Plot

Bheeshma Narayan (Prakash Raj) is a religious guru who prepares an army for the protection of all the ancient Hindu temples from terrorists. Of all the valiant and talented warriors in this elite army, Badrinath (Allu Arjun) is one who is groomed by Bheeshma Narayan and wishes to make Badri his successor. Once, a group of terrorists attacked Amarnath Temple and killed some devotees. Badri fought and killed those criminals, saving both the temple and the devotees.

Meanwhile, Alakananda (Tamannaah), who is a staunch agnostic due to certain circumstances, along with her family is visiting Badrinath Temple, to which Badri is appointed as the protector. Her grandfather explains to Badri that she is in danger as Sarkar (Kelly Dorjee), a dreaded don, is trying to force her marriage with his son Nani (Rakesh Varre). On her grandfather's request, Badri helps Alaknanda to gradually believe in God's existence.

Eventually, Alakananda falls deeply in love with Badri, unbeknownst to him, and is not willing to lose him at any cost. Sarkar and his men follow Alaknanda to Badrinath, and try to kidnap her. Although Badri manages to save her, he is heavily injured and goes under medication. Meanwhile, Bheeshma Narayan is shocked upon seeing Alakananda's affectionate behavior towards Badri when he lies injured. As it is a strict rule that only an unmarried man must be the next guru who would lead the elite warriors, Bheeshma Narayan becomes highly suspicious that Badri is in love with Alakananda, which is not the real situation. Badri promises Alakananda that he would bring her back to Badrinath Temple for success in her love, unaware that he is the object of her love in the first place.

As per the promise, Badri goes to Bellary to free Alakananda from the clutches of Sarkar, who is planning to fix the marriage, and escort Alaknanda back to the holy shrine. Sarkar leads his goons to Badrinath and destroys Bheeshma Narayan's ashram. On the other hand, Badri fights with all the goons and escorts Alakananda to Badrinath. Sarkar vows revenge on Badri as Nani is severely hurt in the process by Badri. Subsequently, Sarkar and his wife (Ashwini Kalsekar) decide to go to Badrinath and take back Alakananda after killing him.

Feeling that Badri is the real traitor and loves Alakananda, Bheeshma Narayan orders Badri to vacate Badrinath Temple. Meanwhile, Alakananda is being taken away by Sarkar's men, and she proposes to Badri to which he rejects as he has dedicated his life to his guru. After seeing Alakananda's pure love for Badri, Bheeshma Narayan is moved and orders Badri to bring her back and marry her. Following his guru's orders, Badri fights off Sarkar and his goons, saves Alakananda, and finally marries her. In the end, Bheeshma Narayan asks them to hand over one of their children so that he can make him his successor, to which they agree happily.

Cast

Tamannaah was selected as lead heroine marking her first collaboration with Allu Arjun.

Release

Certified A (adults only) by the Central Board of Film Certification on the account of graphic action violence,^[16] the film released theatrically along with its Malayalam dubbed version on 10 June 2011.

Reception

Badrinath got mixed to positive reviews. Idlebrain.com gave a review of rating 3/5 stating "The plus points of the film are Allu Arjun (dances, fights and performance), cinematography and grand production values. On the flip side, narration lacks grip and screenplay should have been better. A film of this grandeur needs emotional support to make it likable. V. V. Vinayak who proved himself as a highly successful mass director with his earlier films falter this time to handle a subject of such a huge canvas."^[17] Filmibeat also similarly rated 3/5 for the film.^[18] The audience responded positively. The Hindi Version, which released on TV, was popular among viewers, and had an average user rating of 4.8/5 at the Times of India site.^[19]

Dubbed versions

The film was dubbed in Malayalam under the same title and released along with the Telugu original version. The film was also dubbed in Hindi under the title "Sangharsh Aur Vijay".

Soundtrack

Badrinath
Soundtrack album by M. M. Keeravani
Released	7 May 2011
Recorded	2011
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	35:49
Label	Aditya Music
Producer	M. M. Keeravani
M. M. Keeravani chronology
Anaganaga O Dheerudu (2011) Badrinath (2011) Rajanna (2011)

The grand audio launching event of Badrinath was held at Shilpakala Vedika on 7 May 2011. Allu Arjun, Sneha Reddy, Tamannaah, V. V. Vinayak, Allu Aravind, his wife Nirmala, M. M. Keeravani, K. Raghavendra Rao, A. Kodandarami Reddy, K. S. Rama Rao, Chiranjeevi, his wife Mrs. Surekha, Srija, Sukumar, S. S. Rajamouli, Rama Rajamouli, Boyapati Srinu, B. V. S. N. Prasad, B. Gopal, Srinu Vaitla, Anand Sai, S. Gopala Reddy, Tagore Madhu, K. Atchi Reddy, Chandrabose, Chinni Krishna, Chaitanya Prasad, Pokuri Babu Rao, etc., were the prominent figures in the audio function.

K. Raghavendra Rao and Chiranjeevi released the audio CDs and presented the first copy to S. S. Rajamouli and V. V. Vinayak. Allu Aravind released the trailers.^[20]

Awards

Home video

The Telugu DVD was released by Aditya Videos on 24 October 2011 with a purchase price of $7.99 in NTSC Video Format and Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio Format with English subtitles.^[22] The Blu-ray Disc was released by Aditya Videos on 17 November 2011 with a purchase price of $24.99 in NTSC Video Format and Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio Format with English subtitles.^[23] The Malayalam DVD was released by Empire Videos. Also the rights of the Malayalam version were sold to Amrita TV and the Hindi version was sold to Hindi channel Colors. The film was certified U/A by the CBFC for video release, with some cuts including reduction in violent sequences.

References

External links

• Badrinath on IMDb
• Badrinath at Rotten Tomatoes