The Family Star

The Family Star (also released as Family Star) is a 2024 Telugu romantic action comedy written and directed by Parasuram and produced by Dil Raju and Sirish under Sri Venkateswara Creations. Vijay Deverakonda and Mrunal Thakur play the leads, with Jagapathi Babu, Vennela Kishore and Rohini Hattangadi. Gopi Sundar composed the music. It reunited Vijay Deverakonda with Parasuram after Geetha Govindam (2018). Released on 5 April 2024, it received mixed-to-negative reviews and was a box-office failure, and it has streamed on Prime Video since 26 April 2024.

What the story is about

Govardhan is a selfless middle-class family man who works hard to provide for a large joint family and copes with a difficult, hard-drinking elder brother. Then Indu moves into the room upstairs that he had always used as his own space, and she quickly becomes friends with the whole family. The two fall in love, until Govardhan discovers that she has been writing a college thesis about his family and him. The film, told partly in flashback, follows what that discovery sets in motion, with a twist at the interval that reviewers suggested viewers should not know in advance.

Cast

• Vijay Deverakonda as Govardhan
• Mrunal Thakur as Indu
• Jagapathi Babu as Indu’s father
• Vennela Kishore as Samarth, Indu’s assistant
• Rohini Hattangadi as Govardhan’s grandmother, with Ravi Prakash, Abhinaya and Vasuki Anand as his family; Ravi Babu as a loan shark; Divyansha Kaushik in a cameo

How it was made

The film was announced on 6 February 2023 and confirmed by Sri Venkateswara Creations in June 2023 under the working title VD13; the title The Family Star was announced in October 2023. Shooting began on 15 July 2023 in Hyderabad and later moved to New York. Planned for Sankranti 2024, the release was postponed when filming was delayed, reportedly by visa issues. Deccan Chronicle reported a budget of about ₹50 crore.

Music

Gopi Sundar composed the songs and score, his third film with Vijay Deverakonda and second with Parasuram. The singles were “Nandanandana” (8 February 2024), “Kalyani Vaccha Vacchaa” and “Madhuramu Kadha”. The soundtrack was one of the aspects reviewers generally liked.

Release and box office

The Family Star opened on 5 April 2024. Wikipedia describes it as a box-office failure against its reported budget.

What critics said

Reviews mostly criticised the writing while praising the leads. News18 was the most positive (3.5 out of 5), calling it a “perfect family entertainer”. Paul Nicodemus of The Times of India (2.5 out of 5) wrote that despite “strong performances” it falters on an “unengaging screenplay”, and Telugucinema.com (2.5 out of 5) liked the first half and the interval twist but not the long second half. India Today and Rediff gave 2 out of 5, and The Hindu felt it “does no justice to the family quotient or the star material”.

Where to watch The Family Star

The Family Star premiered on Amazon Prime Video on 26 April 2024 in Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil, according to Wikipedia. Availability varies by country, so check Prime Video before subscribing. The OTT box on this page has the details we hold.

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