Badrinadh

Badrinath (also spelt Badrinadh) is a 2011 Telugu romantic action film directed by V. V. Vinayak and produced by Allu Aravind under Geetha Arts. Allu Arjun plays Badri, a modern-day Indian samurai who guards the Badrinath temple, opposite Tamannaah Bhatia, with Prakash Raj as his guru and Kelly Dorji as the villain. M. M. Keeravani composed the music. It was released on 10 June 2011 on about 1,400 screens worldwide; reviews were mixed to negative, but it was a moderate commercial success.

What the story is about

Bheeshma Narayan, a religious guru and martial arts master, picks Badri, a shepherd’s son, and trains him to become a samurai and the protector of the Badrinath temple. At the temple Badri clashes with Alakananda, a young woman who has turned atheist after losing her parents in a temple fire, and he takes it upon himself to restore her faith. She falls for him, but his guru’s rule is that his successor must remain celibate, and her cruel uncle Sarkar has his own plans for her marriage. The rest of the film follows Badri torn between duty and love; we leave its turns unspoiled.

Cast

• Allu Arjun as Badri; he trained in martial arts and sword fighting in Vietnam for the role
• Tamannaah Bhatia as Alakananda
• Prakash Raj as Guru Bheeshma Narayana
• Kelly Dorji as Sarkar, Alakananda’s uncle, and Ashwini Kalsekar as his wife; Rakesh Varre as their son Nani
• Brahmanandam, M. S. Narayana, Rao Ramesh, Tanikella Bharani and Pragathi in supporting roles

How it was made

The project was in the scripting stage as early as 2004, with Chinni Krishna then attached to direct. Cinematographer Ravi Varman shot it on Panavision lenses at a Badrinath temple set at Kulaba on the way to the Rohtang Pass, and in Hyderabad, Spain, Italy, Germany and Austria. Art director Anand Sai recreated the temple, work that even the film’s harsher critics praised. A Tamil-dubbed version with extra comedy scenes featuring Santhanam was planned but dropped after other dubbed Telugu films failed in Tamil.

Music

Keeravani’s soundtrack was launched at Shilpakala Vedika on 7 May 2011, with Chiranjeevi and K. Raghavendra Rao releasing the CDs. 123Telugu called the album “unique, simple and entertaining”. Prem Rakshith won the Filmfare Award for Best Choreography – South for “Nath Nath”.

Release and box office

The CBFC certified the film A for its graphic action, and a Malayalam-dubbed version was released the same day. As reported: Idlebrain.com put the three-day gross at ₹16.5 crore, Andhraboxoffice reported a lifetime distributors’ share of ₹30 crore, and The Times of India reported a 50-day run in 187 theatres. India Today reported at the time that it was one of the most expensive Telugu films made.

What critics said

Idlebrain.com gave it 3 out of 5, praising Allu Arjun, the music and the production values but finding the narration “not gripping”. 123Telugu (2.5 out of 5) liked several scenes between the leads but was let down by the story and second half, and objected to the graphic violence of the railway-station fight. The Times of India (2 out of 5) called it a “disappointing ride”, and Rediff gave it 1.5 out of 5.

Where to watch Badrinath

We do not have a confirmed streaming platform for Badrinath on file. Aditya Music released it on DVD and Blu-ray. The OTT details on this page will be updated when a platform’s own listing confirms it.

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