Prasthanam

Prasthanam (“Reign”) is a 2010 Telugu political thriller written and directed by Deva Katta and produced by Ravi Vallabhaneni for VRC Media & Entertainment. Sai Kumar plays an ambitious politician, with Sharwanand as his stepson and Sundeep Kishan, in his acting debut, as his son. Released on 16 April 2010, it was well received, won two Filmfare Awards South and two Nandi Awards, and was shown in the Indian Panorama section of the 41st IFFI. Film Companion later named it among the 25 greatest Telugu films of its decade.

What the story is about

After the death of party patriarch Dasharatha Rama Naidu, Lokanatham Naidu, “Loki”, takes control of his party and marries the patriarch’s widowed daughter-in-law, Savitri. Her son Mitra grows up admiring Loki; her daughter Valli never accepts the marriage. Twenty-five years later Loki is close to becoming Chief Minister, and his own son Chinna burns with resentment that his father favours Mitra, especially when Mitra is made the party’s youth president. One reckless night involving Chinna sets off a chain of violence that turns the family against itself. The film is about greed, ambition and loyalty, and, as one reading has it, about the sins of the fathers being visited on the children.

Cast and crew

• Sai Kumar as Lokanatham Naidu “Loki”
• Sharwanand as Mitranand “Mitra”
• Sundeep Kishan as Chinna
• Pavitra Lokesh as Savitri
• Surekha Vani as Valli
• Rashmi Gautam as Nadia
• Ruby Parihar, in her debut, as Latha, Mitra’s girlfriend
• Vennela Kishore as Goli, Mitra’s friend
• Jaya Prakash Reddy as Bangaru Naidu

Writer and director: Deva Katta. Producer: Ravi Vallabhaneni. Music: Mahesh Shankar, released by T-Series. Runtime: 151 minutes.

Making the film

After Vennela, Katta offered a political script with the same title to Mahesh Babu, who was not interested in political films. Gopichand and Ravi Teja also passed, feeling it lacked their usual heroism, and Katta considered Jagapathi Babu and Sumanth before casting Sharwanand. The audio was launched at Big Bazaar in Ameerpet, Hyderabad, on 12 December 2009.

Reviews and box office

Reviews were generally positive, with Sai Kumar singled out. Jeevi of Idlebrain gave it three out of five, praising its grasp of human nature but faulting the editing. Radhika Rajamani of Rediff felt it was too long: “Watch Prasthanam if you like long films with a political backdrop.” Facing big-budget competition from Simha and Darling, it did modestly well at the box office.

Awards and legacy

Sai Kumar won both the Nandi Award and the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor. The film also won the Nandi for Third Best Feature Film and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Telugu Film. Its selection for the Indian Panorama was reported by The Hindu. It was dubbed into Tamil as Padhavi and Hindi as Asteen Ka Saanp, and Katta remade it in Hindi under the same title in 2019.

Where to watch Prasthanam

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

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