Vikramarkudu

Vikramarkudu is a 2006 Telugu action drama co-written and directed by S. S. Rajamouli from a story by V. Vijayendra Prasad, and produced by M. L. Kumar Chowdary under Sri Keerthi Creations. Ravi Teja plays a dual role opposite Anushka, with M. M. Keeravani’s music and Sarvesh Murari’s cinematography. Released on 23 June 2006, it was one of the biggest Telugu hits of the year and Ravi Teja’s highest-grossing film up to then. Its story travelled widely: it was remade in Tamil as Siruthai, in Kannada as Veera Madakari, in Hindi as Rowdy Rathore and in Bengali, among others.

What the story is about

Athili Satthi Babu is a charming petty thief working the streets of Hyderabad with his uncle, Duvva Abbulu. He falls for Neeraja, a young woman from Devgarh in Madhya Pradesh, and promises to go straight after one last big job. But when he and his uncle steal a trunk at a railway station and open it, they find a little girl, Neha, inside, and she insists Satthi Babu is her father. A police inspector orders him to look after her, and her belongings lead him to a police officer who looks exactly like him. Who that officer is, and why the girl was sent away, is the story the film goes on to tell.

Cast

• Ravi Teja in a dual role as the thief Athili Satthi Babu and ASP Vikram Singh Rathore
• Anushka as Neeraja
• Brahmanandam as Duvva Abbulu
• Baby Neha as Neha
• Rajiv Kanakala as Inspector Mahanthi, Vineet Kumar as Bavuji and Ajay as his brother Titla
• Raghu Babu and Jaya Prakash Reddy in supporting roles; Prakash Raj in a cameo

How it was made

During a shoot at a quarry, a dispute between the quarry manager and workers who had been asked to stop work escalated into stone-pelting at the film unit. Equipment was damaged and several crew members were injured, including Rajamouli, who suffered a hairline fracture to his hand. Costume designer Rama Rajamouli dressed the thief in vibrant colours and the policeman in sober ones to set the two characters apart.

Music

M. M. Keeravani composed the soundtrack, launched near Hitec City on 31 May 2006, with audio rights bought by Aditya Music. It was well received, and the song “College Papala” (popularly “Chinta Ta Chita Chita”) was reused in nearly every remake.

Release and box office

Vikramarkudu was released on 23 June 2006 with 180 prints. The Hindu, in its review of the year, listed it among the highest grossers of 2006; Wikipedia, citing The Hindu and Filmy Focus, gives a budget of ₹11 crore and a distributors’ share of ₹19 crore, with a 100-day run in 54 centres. It was also screened in the mainstream section of the International Film Festival of India.

What critics said

Reviews were positive. Idlebrain.com called it “another prospective blockbuster from the stable of Rajamouli”. Sify described it as “a masala entertainer and is OK timepass fare”, while Cinegoer wrote that it “never bores you” because “so many things happen all the time and the narrative moves quickly”.

Legacy

Few Telugu films of the decade were remade as often. Besides the Tamil, Kannada and Hindi versions, it was remade twice in Bangladesh, once with a female lead as Action Jasmine (2015), and in West Bengal as Bikram Singha. In September 2021, Vijayendra Prasad began writing a sequel.

Where to watch Vikramarkudu

We do not have a confirmed streaming platform for Vikramarkudu on file. The OTT details on this page will be updated when a platform’s own listing confirms it.

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