Akasa Veedhilo

Akasa Veedhilo (meaning “In the streets of the sky”) is a 2001 Telugu drama written and directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao and produced by Ramoji Rao under Usha Kiran Movies. Nagarjuna plays an ace pilot, with Rajendra Prasad, Raveena Tandon and Kasthuri, and M. M. Keeravani composed the music. Begun in early 1999, it builds part of its story around the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 to Kandahar. It was released on 23 August 2001; Idlebrain.com and Telugucinema.com both reviewed it unfavourably.

What the story is about

Chandra Shekar, or Chandu, is a daredevil pilot at the New Delhi flying club, where his only real companion is fellow pilot Suri and his mentor is Jagadiswara Rao. Indu, the daughter of a tycoon, secretly joins the club to learn to fly, without her father’s knowledge, and Jagadiswara Rao assigns Chandu as her instructor. The two clash from the first day, and when a quarrel ends with Indu slapping him, Chandu refuses to turn their training flight back until she apologises. She refuses too, and when birds strike the aircraft it comes down in the Himalayas, leaving the bickering pair to survive the mountains together, the start of a story that later carries their families into a hijacking.

Cast

• Nagarjuna as Chandu
• Raveena Tandon as Indu
• Rajendra Prasad as Suri Babu
• Kasthuri as Padma, Jagadiswara Rao’s daughter
• Giri Babu as Jagadiswara Rao and Lakshmi Ratan as Indu’s father
• Rahul Dev and Kaushal Manda as terrorists
• Kota Srinivasa Rao as G.K., Chalapathi Rao as the Air Force chief and M. S. Narayana as a passenger
• Teja Sajja as the twins Ram and Lakshman

Making the film

According to Idlebrain.com, the film was started at the beginning of 1999. Media reports at the time said Singeetam lost interest in the project partway through and that R. R. Shinde completed it. M. M. Keeravani composed the songs.

What critics said

Idlebrain.com found the first half “boring” and the second “very predictable”, and recommended it “only for the Nag’s fans”. Telugucinema.com called it “a lavishly made film”, with heavy spending on outdoor shoots and graphics, “but poorly treated”, with an ordinary story and screenplay. Wikipedia’s article does not record its box-office performance, so we do not characterise it.

Where to watch Akasa Veedhilo

We do not have a confirmed streaming platform for Akasa Veedhilo on file. The OTT details on this page will be updated when a platform’s own listing confirms it.

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