Court: State vs a Nobody

Court: State vs a Nobody (కోర్ట్) is a 2025 Telugu legal drama written and directed by Ram Jagadeesh in his debut, presented by Nani and produced by Prashanti Tipirneni through Wall Poster Cinema. Priyadarshi Pulikonda leads as a junior lawyer, with P. Sai Kumar, Sivaji, Rohini, Harsha Vardhan, Subhalekha Sudhakar, Harsh Roshan and Sridevi Apalla. It opened on 14 March 2025, runs 149 minutes, and has streamed on Netflix since 11 April 2025.

What the story is about

Surya Teja is a junior lawyer at Mohan Rao’s firm who wants a case of his own. Chandrashekar, a 19-year-old who runs errands to support his family, falls in love with Jabilli, a 17-year-old from a well-off family. When Jabilli’s uncle Mangapathi, who uses his lawyer and his influence to protect the family’s “honour”, finds out, he has Chandrashekar arrested and charged under the POCSO Act. The film follows how Surya Teja comes to the case and whether the boy gets justice.

Cast and characters

• Priyadarshi Pulikonda as Advocate Surya Teja
• P. Sai Kumar as Advocate G. Mohan Rao, Surya Teja’s senior
• Sivaji as Mangapathi, Jabilli’s uncle
• Rohini as Seetha Ratnam, Jabilli’s mother
• Harsha Vardhan as Advocate K. S. Damodhar, Mangapathi’s lawyer
• Subhalekha Sudhakar as Ramachandrayya, Jabilli’s grandfather
• Harsh Roshan as Chandrasekhar (“Chandu”) and Sridevi Apalla as Jabilli

How it was made

Ram Jagadeesh first pitched Priyadarshi a romance, which the actor turned down. He then described a friend who had been wrongly accused of a crime, and Priyadarshi suggested he research similar cases. Jagadeesh read case files under the POCSO Act and built a fictional story from them, writing the screenplay with Karthikeya Sreenivass and Vamsidhar Sirigiri. Deepthi Ganta co-produced. Nani announced in August 2024 that he would present the film, and shooting began in September 2024. Vijai Bulganin composed the two-song soundtrack.

Reviews

• The Times of India (Paul Nicodemus): three and a half out of five; the debutant director “punches well above his weight”.
• OTTplay (Avad Mohammad) and The Indian Express (Avinash Ramachandran): 3.5/5 each; both noted a slow start carried by strong performances.
• India Today and Times Now gave it 2.5/5, calling it a decent but familiar courtroom drama.

Box office

News18 reported a worldwide gross of ₹58.15 crore; Wikipedia gives the final worldwide gross as an estimated ₹57–58.15 crore against a reported budget of ₹4 crore. News18 described it as topping the return-on-investment charts. A Tamil remake, Ranjan – The Advocate, has been announced.

Where to watch Court: State vs a Nobody

Netflix acquired the streaming rights, and the film has been on Netflix since 11 April 2025, four weeks after its theatrical release.

More Telugu films like this on Tollywood Desk: Oka Court Case, Racharikam, Dacoit: A Love Story.

Sources: the Wikipedia article on Court: State vs a Nobody and the reviews and trade reports it cites; our own cast, crew, release and OTT records.