Govinda Govinda

Govinda Govinda is a 1994 Telugu supernatural heist film written and directed by Ram Gopal Varma and produced by C. Aswani Dutt under the Vyjayanthi Movies banner. Nagarjuna and Sridevi lead, with Paresh Rawal, Kota Srinivasa Rao and Master Anil Raj, and Raj–Koti composed the music. It was released on 21 January 1994 and runs 145 minutes, and was later dubbed into Hindi as The Great Robbery.

What the story is about

After a mythological prologue telling how Vishnu came to dwell on the Venkata hill as Lord Venkateswara, the film moves to the present. In Bangkok, an occultist named Stavros believes that sacrificing a virgin before the sacred crown of Lord Venkateswara from the Tirumala temple will give him telekinetic powers, and he hires Paresh, a Bombay burglar and smuggler, to steal it for a million dollars. Meanwhile Naveena, a young non-resident Indian living in Bangkok, visits her home town after her parents’ death and, at Tirumala, meets Seenu, a taxi driver whose father guards the temple. Seenu, his friend Babu, a little boy raised by the temple’s chief priest, and Naveena are about to be drawn into the theft.

Cast and crew

• Nagarjuna as Seenu
• Sridevi as Naveena
• Master Anil Raj as Babu
• Paresh Rawal as Paresh and Dhir as Stavros
• Kota Srinivasa Rao as Satyananda Swamy and J. V. Somayajulu as the main priest
• Gummadi as Bhrigu, Arun Govil as Vishnu and Yamuna as Mahalakshmi
• Annapurna as Seenu’s mother, Suryakantam, Uttej, Kallu Chidambaram and Sudhakar, with Silk Smitha in a song

Writer and director: Ram Gopal Varma. Producer: C. Aswani Dutt. Music: Raj–Koti (soundtrack on Supreme Music).

How it came about

Aswani Dutt has said in an interview that Varma pitched him two ideas, one of which was Rangeela, planned with Nagarjuna and Rajinikanth. Dutt, a devotee of Lord Venkateswara, chose the action film with a spiritual angle instead. The film reunited Nagarjuna and Sridevi after their successful pairing in Aakhari Poratam (1988).

Reception and box office

With Varma, Aswani Dutt, Nagarjuna and Sridevi on board, the film was promoted as an ambitious project, and on release it drew mixed reviews and disappointed many viewers, according to Chitra Jyothy, which adds that Raj–Koti’s songs were well liked. Wikipedia records it as a commercial failure, citing an Idlebrain interview with Aswani Dutt; no figures are given.

Where to watch Govinda Govinda

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

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