Alludu Seenu

Alludu Seenu (transl. Son-in-law Seenu) is a 2014 Indian Telugu-language action comedy directed by V. V. Vinayak and produced by Bellamkonda Suresh under Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Productions. It introduced his son Bellamkonda Sreenivas in the title role, alongside Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Prakash Raj, Pradeep Rawat and Brahmanandam, with Tamannaah in a special appearance. It was released worldwide on 25 July 2014.

Story

Seenu and his uncle Narasimha are deep in debt in their village, so they run off hoping to fly to Dubai and make money. They board the wrong train and end up in Hyderabad. There Seenu discovers that the city’s feared don, Bhai, looks exactly like his uncle, and he starts using the resemblance to make money and fool Bhai’s gang. The con gets more complicated when Bhai’s stepdaughter falls for Seenu.

Development and casting

Vinayak, whose first break as a director came from Bellamkonda Suresh, announced in 2008 that he would launch Suresh’s son as a hero. The film was launched on 15 February 2013, and the script was reworked twice before shooting began. Samantha joined as the heroine in February 2013 as part of a three-film deal with Suresh. Prakash Raj confirmed he was playing a dual role. Tamannaah was first announced as a second heroine but dropped out when the new script needed only one. She returned for a romantic song, which she described as the most important in the film. The title was confirmed in May 2014.

Filming and music

Shooting began at Annapurna Studios in October 2013 and took place mainly in and around Hyderabad, with significant portions in Alleppey, Kerala. Songs were filmed in Japan, Dubai and Italy as well as on sets in Hyderabad. Filming wrapped on 14 June 2014. Devi Sri Prasad composed the music, Chota K. Naidu was the cinematographer, and Gautham Raju edited the film.

Box office

According to the source, the film’s ₹40 crore budget made it the most expensive debut vehicle yet and one of the costliest Telugu films of its time. It collected a distributors’ share of ₹24.55 crore, so distributors largely recovered their costs, but it was a loss for the producers. It was still the second-highest-grossing Telugu film for a debutant at the time, behind Chirutha.

Reception and legacy

Reviews were mixed to positive. Critics called it a commercial entertainer and praised the lead cast, but found the story predictable and the songs badly placed. Bellamkonda Sreenivas won the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut – South, and the film won the state Gaddar Award for Third Best Feature Film. It was dubbed into Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil.

Sources: Wikipedia and Wikidata.