Desamuduru

Desamuduru (meaning “Cunning Lad”) is a 2007 Telugu romantic action comedy directed by Puri Jagannadh and produced by DVV Danayya under Universal Media. Allu Arjun stars opposite Hansika Motwani, in her Telugu debut, with Pradeep Rawat, Ali, Devan, Telangana Shakuntala and Subbaraju. Released on 12 January 2007, it was a major hit and, according to Wikipedia, the highest-grossing film of Allu Arjun’s career up to that point.

What the story is about

Bala Govind is a programme director at Maa TV whose habit of fighting injustice keeps landing him in trouble. While exposing illegal bootlegging in Hyderabad’s Dhoolpet, he rescues a man from goons and beats Murugesan, the son of the smuggler Tambi Durai, into a coma. To keep him out of harm’s way, his channel sends him to Kullu Manali to shoot a travel episode. There he meets Vaishali, a young sannyasin at an ashram, and falls for her. Before he can bring her home, Tambi Durai’s men kidnap her, and Bala sets out to learn who she really is and why the smuggler wants her.

Cast

• Allu Arjun as Bala Govind; he grew his hair long and built six-pack abs for the role
• Hansika Motwani as Vaishali, her first Telugu film as an actress
• Pradeep Rawat, Devan and Telangana Shakuntala in supporting roles
• Ali in a comic role, with Chandra Mohan, Brahmanandam and Subbaraju
• Rambha in an item number

How it was made

After Happy (2006), Allu Arjun was reported to be interested in a Telugu remake of the Tamil Sivakasi, but instead signed on for Jagannadh’s film. Jagannadh wrote the script in Bangkok, and the film was launched at his Vaishno Academy office on 19 June 2006. Shooting began on 14 July 2006 in Hyderabad and moved to Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal, with action scenes in Manali and later at the Aluminium Factory in Gachibowli.

Music

Chakri composed the six-song soundtrack, launched on 25 December 2006. “Ninne Ninne” was the most popular track. The Nandi Award for Best Choreographer went to Nobel for “Satte E Godava Ledu”.

Release and box office

Desamuduru opened on 500 screens, 424 of them in Andhra Pradesh and 31 overseas. Reported figures come from trade websites rather than audited accounts: Nonstop Cinema reported a first-week worldwide gross of ₹12.58 crore (₹9.5 crore share), and T2BLive lists a lifetime distributors’ share of ₹26 crore, making it the second highest-grossing Telugu film of 2007. Wikipedia records that it ran for more than 365 days.

Awards

Hansika Motwani won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut – South, and the film was nominated for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Music Director at the 55th Filmfare Awards. Allu Arjun won the CineMAA Award for Best Actor (Jury).

Where to watch Desamuduru

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

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