Chennakeshava Reddy

Chennakesava Reddy is a 2002 Telugu action drama directed by V. V. Vinayak and produced by Bellamkonda Suresh under Sri Sai Ganesh Productions. Nandamuri Balakrishna plays a double role, as a Rayalaseema faction leader and a Mumbai police officer, with Tabu, Shriya Saran and Devayani, and Mani Sharma composed the music. According to Cinejosh, it was a blockbuster. It was dubbed into Tamil as Aadikesavan in 2009.

What the story is about

In Rayalaseema, the followers of the legendary faction leader Chennakesava Reddy gather at his statue, still waiting for him to return after 22 years. In his absence the region has fallen under the tyranny of Dhanunjaya Reddy and his three brothers, a minister, a judge and Krishna Reddy, who is married to Chennakesava’s sister Janaki and abuses her. Far away in Mumbai, DCP Bharath Reddy, an uncompromising police officer who looks exactly like Chennakesava, is busy clashing with, and falling for, Preethi, a medical student and the police commissioner’s daughter. Back in Rayalaseema, an upright superintendent of police, Ramaraju, starts digging into Chennakesava’s story and discovers where he has been all these years.

Cast

• Nandamuri Balakrishna as Chennakesava Reddy and as DCP Bharath Reddy
• Tabu as Devi, Chennakesava’s wife
• Shriya Saran as Preethi
• Devayani as Janaki, Chennakesava’s sister
• Anand Raj as Dhanunjaya Reddy, Jaya Prakash Reddy as Venkat Reddy and Pruthvi as Krishna Reddy
• Siva Krishna as SP Ramaraju
• Brahmanandam as Seema Sastry, Ali as Lagaan Khan and L. B. Sriram as Hippi Lahari
• Annapoorna as Chennakesava’s mother, and Raghu Babu, M. S. Narayana and Fish Venkat in supporting roles

Music

Mani Sharma composed the soundtrack, released by Supreme Music.

Release and reception

Cinejosh lists Chennakesava Reddy among Balakrishna’s blockbusters; Wikipedia gives no sourced collection figure. Reviewing it in The Hindu, Gudipoodi Srihari praised Balakrishna in his two roles and Mani Sharma’s score, but felt “the father-son clash looks routine and dilutes the spirit of the movie”. Sify rated it 3 out of 5 and called it “the same old Rayalaseema faction fight recreated with more sprinkling of blood and gore”.

Where to watch Chennakesava Reddy

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

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