Salaar

Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire is a 2023 Telugu-language epic action film directed by Prashanth Neel and produced by Vijay Kiragandur under Hombale Films. Set in a fictional, dystopian city-state, it stars Prabhas and Prithviraj Sukumaran as two childhood friends whose bond is tested by a struggle for power. The first part of a planned two-part story, it was released at Christmas 2023 to positive reviews and became the highest-grossing Telugu film of that year.

Premise

The film is set in Khansaar, a fictional city-state that has cut itself off from the rest of India and where a form of constitutional monarchy survives. It follows the friendship between Deva, Khansaar’s exiled prince, and Varadha, its current prince. When his father’s ministers and his own relatives plot a coup against him, Varadha calls on Deva to help him become Khansaar’s undisputed ruler.

The story moves between the two men’s childhood and the present, as Khansaar’s history of rival tribes and shifting loyalties comes to the surface. Its later revelations about Deva’s past are central to the film and are not described here.

Cast

• Prabhas as Deva
• Prithviraj Sukumaran as Varadha
• Shruti Haasan, Jagapathi Babu, Bobby Simha and Sriya Reddy
• Ramachandra Raju, John Vijay, Easwari Rao and Tinnu Anand
• Devaraj, Brahmaji and Mime Gopi

Development

The film’s original storyline grew out of Neel’s 2014 Kannada debut, Ugramm. In November 2020 Neel was reported to be preparing his next film with either N. T. Rama Rao Jr. or Prabhas. On 2 December 2020 Hombale Films announced that he would work with Prabhas on a film titled Salaar, Neel’s first in Telugu. In July 2023 the first instalment was given its full title, Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire.

Production

A muhurtam ceremony was held in Hyderabad on 15 January 2021, and principal photography began that month. Filming took place in several separate legs over nearly three years, in Telangana, Italy and Budapest, and wrapped in late 2023. The pandemic, reshoots and delays in the visual effects pushed the release back several times.

Ravi Basrur composed the music, in his fourth consecutive film with Neel. Bhuvan Gowda was the cinematographer and Ujwal Kulkarni the editor.

Release and box office

The film was released in cinemas on 22 December 2023, in time for Christmas. According to the source, it earned an estimated ₹630–705 crore against a budget of ₹270 crore. By the end of its run it was:

• The highest-grossing Telugu film of 2023
• The third-highest-grossing Telugu film of all time
• The highest-grossing A-rated Telugu film
• The nineteenth-highest-grossing Indian film of all time

Reception

Critics gave the film positive reviews, and it was a clear commercial success. For Prabhas, it joined Saaho and Kalki 2898 AD among the large-scale productions he has led since the Baahubali films, all of which rank among the highest-grossing Indian films.

Sources: Wikipedia and Wikidata.