Brindavanam

Brindavanam is a 2010 Telugu romantic action comedy written and directed by Vamsi Paidipally and produced by Dil Raju’s Sri Venkateswara Creations. N. T. Rama Rao Jr. stars with Kajal Aggarwal and Samantha, with Prakash Raj, Srihari and Kota Srinivasa Rao in key roles, and S. Thaman composed the music. Released on 14 October 2010, it was a critical and commercial success and was remade in six other languages.

What the story is about

Krish, the son of a Hyderabad multimillionaire, is in love with Indu. When Indu’s friend Bhoomi is being pushed into a marriage she does not want, Indu asks Krish to help, and he agrees to go to Bhoomi’s village posing as her boyfriend. Once there, the charade turns out to be the least of it: behind the forced marriage lies a large, quarrelling family, including a long rift between Bhoomi’s father, Bhanu Prasad, and his step-brother Sivudu, and Krish finds himself drawn into its feuds and into an emotional tangle he had not bargained for.

Cast

• N. T. Rama Rao Jr. as Krishna “Krish”
• Kajal Aggarwal as Bhoomi
• Samantha as Indu
• Prakash Raj as Bhanu Prasad, Bhoomi’s father
• Srihari as Sivudu, his step-brother
• Kota Srinivasa Rao as Durga Prasad, the family patriarch
• Mukesh Rishi and Pragathi as Krish’s parents
• Ajay as Bhoomi’s cousin and Tanikella Bharani as his father
• Brahmanandam, Venu Madhav, Brahmaji and Raghu Babu in supporting roles
• N. T. Rama Rao, digitally recreated, as Lord Krishna

Making the film

The project, announced in July 2009 with the working caption Govindudu Andari Vadele, reunited Dil Raju with Vamsi Paidipally after Munna. It was launched at Annapurna Studios on 15 August 2009, when Idlebrain.com reported the crew: Thaman on music, Chota K. Naidu on camera, Koratala Siva writing the dialogue and Ram-Lakshman composing the fights. Kajal Aggarwal was cast first; Samantha was signed as the second heroine in February 2010, before her debut Ye Maaya Chesave had even been released. Art director Anand Sai built a villa set near Bachupally. Filming began on 1 December 2009 and moved between Pollachi, Hyderabad, Vikarabad, Chalakudy and Athirappilly in Kerala, and Switzerland, where the song “Nijamena” was shot; it wrapped on 15 September 2010. NTR was injured during a rope stunt near Kokapet and needed six stitches, and the shoot was also paused for a week after the death of Kota Srinivasa Rao’s son, Kota Prasad.

Music

The soundtrack was S. Thaman’s first work with both Vamsi Paidipally and NTR. It was released by Aditya Music at Shilpakala Vedika on 12 September 2010, at a function attended by S. S. Rajamouli, K. Raghavendra Rao, M. M. Keeravani and Prabhas among others, and was well received.

Release and box office

The release date moved several times, from July to 1 October and then 8 October, and Dil Raju finally settled on 14 October 2010 to leave a week’s gap after Mahesh Babu’s Khaleja. The film was certified U/A. Sri Venkateswara Creations distributed it in Andhra Pradesh, BlueSky Cinemas took the US rights and EuroAndhra the UK and Europe. The Times of India reported that NTR Jr “steals the BO show”, and Sify reported the film’s success; Wikipedia does not give a sourced collection figure.

What critics said

Reviews were generally positive. NDTV said “NTR’s performance is unquestionably the highlight of the film” and credited Koratala Siva’s dialogue and Chota K. Naidu’s camerawork. Idlebrain.com rated it 3.25 out of 5, calling it “a decent and clean movie”, entertaining in the second half though with a “debatable” climax and a story that gives “a deja vu feeling”.

Remakes

Brindavanam was remade in Odia as Love Master (2012), in Bangladeshi Bengali as Buk Fatey To Mukh Foteyna (2012), in Bengali as Khoka 420 (2013), in Kannada as Brindavana (2013), in Marathi as Vrundavan (2016) and in Bhojpuri as Hum Hai Jodi No 1 (2016).

Where to watch Brindavanam

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

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