Vaana

Vaana (“Rain”) is a 2008 Telugu romantic drama directed and produced by M. S. Raju, a remake of the 2006 Kannada blockbuster Mungaru Male. Vinay Rai makes his Telugu debut opposite Meera Chopra, with Suman, Jayasudha, Naresh, Seetha and Diganth, who reprises his role from the original. Released on 15 January 2008, it drew mixed-to-negative reviews and was a flop.

What the story is about

Abhiram, the only son of Uma and Babji, spots a pretty girl, Nandini, at a mall on a windy day and, while staring at her, falls into a manhole. She pulls him out, losing the heart-shaped watch she has just bought. Later, on a trip to Araku with his mother, Abhi runs into Jaanu, who has vowed to keep every man away from Nandini, and the two come to blows, just as his romance with Nandini begins.

Cast and crew

• Vinay Rai as Abhiram
• Meera Chopra as Nandini
• Suman as Col. Chowdary
• Jayasudha as Uma and Naresh as Babji, Abhi’s parents
• Diganth as Gautam
• Seetha as Bharati
• Ajay as Jaanu

Director and producer: M. S. Raju (Sumanth Art Productions). Music: Kamalakar, in his debut, with lyrics by Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry. Cinematography: Sekhar V. Joseph. Editing: K. V. Krishna Reddy.

Making the film and music

Raju first planned to cast his son Sumanth Ashwin as the hero, but wanted a more mature actor and chose Vinay, known for the Tamil Unnale Unnale (2007), as IndiaGlitz reported. Of the eight songs, two tunes, “Anisuthide” and “Mungaru Male”, were retained from the Kannada original as “Yeduta Nilichindi” and “Aakasa Ganga”, and “Sirimalle Vaana” is based on “Kurisindi Vaana” from Bullemma Bullodu (1972). The audio was launched at Annapurna Studios on 14 December 2007.

Reviews and box office

Jeevi of Idlebrain gave it three out of five but concluded that “Vaana is an unappealing film”. Sify praised several of the performances. The film failed at the box office and was later dubbed into Tamil as Gnabagangal Thalattum in 2013, as Sify noted.

Where to watch Vaana

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

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