Check

Check is a 2021 Telugu crime drama written and directed by Chandra Sekhar Yeleti and produced by V. Anand Prasad’s Bhavya Creations. Nithiin plays a death-row prisoner who turns out to be a gifted chess player, with Rakul Preet Singh, Priya Prakash Varrier (in her Telugu debut) and Simran Choudhary. Kalyani Malik composed the music. It was released in cinemas on 26 February 2021.

What the story is about

A bomb blast in Hyderabad kills 40 people. Five men are convicted and sentenced to death, among them Aditya, who insists he had nothing to do with it and appeals. In prison he befriends an elderly inmate, Srimannarayana, a passionate chess player, picks up the game from him, and turns out to be exceptionally talented.

His case is taken up by a lawyer, Manasa, to whom he tells his story: an orphan raised by a travelling circus where he learned magic tricks, he grew up into a small-time con man, fell in love with a woman called Yatra, and was arrested after emails linked to the blast were found on his laptop. At the time those emails were sent, he says, he was in another city with Yatra, who could prove it, but she has vanished. The court gives him six months to find her, and from there the film becomes a long game, on the chessboard and off it, for his life.

Cast and crew

• Nithiin as Aditya
• Rakul Preet Singh as Manasa, his lawyer
• Priya Prakash Varrier as Yatra
• Simran Choudhary as Varna
• Sai Chand as Srimannarayana
• Posani Krishna Murali as Manasa’s father, a lawyer
• Sampath Raj and Murali Sharma as police officers
• Chaitanya Krishna as Ram, a chess champion

Writer and director: Chandra Sekhar Yeleti. Producer: V. Anand Prasad (Bhavya Creations). Music: Kalyani Malik. Cinematography: Rahul Srivastav. Runtime: 138 minutes.

Making the film

Check was announced on 23 June 2019. Filming began in early 2020, stopped during the COVID-19 lockdown and resumed in October 2020; the title was announced on 1 October 2020. It reunited Yeleti with Kalyani Malik, who had scored his Aithe. The film has a single song, “Ninnu Chudakunda Undalekapothunnanu”, sung by Haricharan and Shakthisree Gopalan.

Reviews and box office

Check opened to mixed reviews. Neeshita Nyayapati of the Times of India gave it 2.5 out of 5, saying it “has the potential to be an engaging prison drama but falters in portions it’s supposed to excel in”. Hemanth Kumar of Firstpost found the protagonist’s journey “lacklustre at best”. Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu thought it might be one of Yeleti’s weakest films, though she praised the cinematography, background score and production design.

Asianet News Telugu reported a gross of ₹14 crore and a distributors’ share of ₹7 crore from its opening weekend, and News18 Telugu put the first-week share at ₹9 crore. News18 Telugu later listed it among 2021’s box-office flops.

Where to watch Check

Check began streaming on Sun NXT on 14 May 2021, according to Wikipedia; its Hindi dubbed version premiered on Sony Max on 9 January 2022. We have not checked a current listing, so availability may differ.

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