Kalyanram Kathi

Kalyanram Kathi, also known simply as Kathi (transl. “Sword”), is a 2010 Telugu action film written and directed by Mallikarjun, from a story by Vakkantham Vamsi. Nandamuri Kalyan Ram plays a footballer whose violent side comes out when his sister goes missing, with Sana Khan in her Telugu debut, Shaam, Saranya Mohan and Kota Srinivasa Rao. It was released on 12 November 2010 and was a commercial failure.

What the story is about

Ramakrishna is a football player who dotes on his younger sister Haritha and protects her, even though the rest of the family disapproves of her carefree ways. A dispute with a builder over land for a park turns, unexpectedly, into a marriage proposal for both siblings, but Ramakrishna is in love with Anjali, and the builder takes offence. In the middle of the row that follows, the family learns that Haritha has disappeared. Ramakrishna’s search for her, and what he finds when he does, takes the film to a feuding household in Rayalaseema. The film opens with a scene from late in the story and tells the rest in flashback, so we will stop there.

Cast and crew

• Kalyan Ram as Ramakrishna
• Sana Khan as Anjali
• Saranya Mohan as Haritha
• Shaam as Krishna Mohan
• Kota Srinivasa Rao as Bilahari, Krishna Mohan’s father
• Chandra Mohan as Chandram, Ramakrishna’s father
• Ramya Krishna as Raja Lakshmi, Ramakrishna’s mother
• Suhasini Maniratnam as Snehalatha
• Brahmanandam as Swathi Muthyam
• Ajay as Ajay
• Raghu Babu as Baasha, an auto driver

Director and screenplay: Mallikarjun. Story: Vakkantham Vamsi. Music: Mani Sharma. Production: N.T.R. Arts. Runtime: 129 minutes.

Making of the film

This was Kalyan Ram’s second film with Mallikarjun after Abhimanyu, as he discussed in an interview with Idlebrain. Before release it ran into a title dispute: director Gunasekhar had registered “Kathi” for a film with Ravi Teja. The name was changed to Kalyan Ram Kathi, after which Gunasekhar gave up the title. Mani Sharma’s soundtrack, on the Mayuri Audio label, was launched on 6 November 2010 at the Taj Banjara hotel in Hyderabad, with Nandamuri Balakrishna, Jr. NTR, Nandamuri Harikrishna and Dasari Narayana Rao among the guests.

Reviews and box office

The Times of India gave it two stars out of five, saying “the contrived plot could play spoilsport in this clichéd action adventure”. Idlebrain.com was kinder at 3/5, praising Kalyan Ram’s performance, the action, the dialogue and the camerawork; Sify headlined its review “a jaded love story”. Wikipedia calls the film a commercial failure, citing a 2015 Tupaki report on Kalyan Ram giving Mallikarjun a third chance; we have not found collection figures.

Where to watch Kalyanram Kathi

We do not have a confirmed streaming listing for Kalyanram Kathi on file. If we verify one with a platform, it will appear on this page.

Sources: the Wikipedia article on Kalyanram Kathi and the reviews and reports it cites, linked above; our own cast and crew records.