Devi Putrudu

Devi Putrudu (transl. “Son of Devi”) is a 2001 Telugu fantasy drama co-written and directed by Kodi Ramakrishna and produced by M. S. Raju under Sumanth Art Productions. Venkatesh plays a dual role opposite Soundarya and Anjala Zaveri, and Mani Sharma composed the music. Released on 14 January 2001, it was admired for its visual effects but was not a commercial success. It was dubbed into Tamil as Paapa and into Hindi as Aaj Ka Deviputra. Our record lists a running time of 162 minutes.

What the story is about

The film opens with the legend of Dwaraka swallowed by the sea, then jumps 5,000 years to Mumbai, where Baburao gets by on petty theft and pranks. Satyavathi, back from abroad to visit her sister Karuna, who married an archaeologist working at the Dwaraka excavation site, hires Baburao’s taxi along with her uncle. Baburao thinks she is carrying diamonds; she is not, but circumstances keep him at her side all the way to Dwaraka. There he meets Paapa, a mysterious little girl with mystical powers, and learns that Karuna has disappeared. Digging into what happened to her leads him to an ancient secret beneath the sea.

Cast

• Venkatesh in a dual role as Balaram, an archaeologist, and Baburao, a petty thief
• Soundarya as Karuna
• Anjala Zaveri as Satyavati
• Suresh as Hara Gopal
• Kota Srinivasa Rao as Dheyyala Raju, a wizard
• M. S. Narayana as Peddagaddala Perayya
• Ali as Baburao’s aide
• Babu Mohan as a security guard
• Prema as the goddess
• Baby Cherri as Balaram’s daughter

Making of the film

The film was launched on 23 September 1999. After the success of Devi (1999), M. S. Raju cast Venkatesh in this far more ambitious project; Idlebrain.com reported a budget of ₹15 crore. In a 2002 interview with Idlebrain, Raju said that a film like this could really only be made by the likes of Steven Spielberg or George Lucas, that it demanded far more time, effort and money than he expected, and that he ended up releasing it prematurely. Its failure brought him heavy losses and forced him to compensate buyers and financiers. Mani Sharma’s soundtrack was released by Aditya Music. The release itself slipped from 11 to 14 January 2001.

Reception and box office

Jeevi of Idlebrain.com gave it 4.5 out of 5, calling it “the best special effects movie ever made in India” and urging readers to see it on the big screen. In 2018 The Times of India included it among six Telugu films with awe-inspiring visual effects, calling it “a rare union of elegant CGI work and a heavyweight emotional storyline”.

Commercially it disappointed. Wikipedia records 50-day runs in 60 centres and 100 days in 3, and says the Nizam distribution rights sold for a record ₹5 crore but the Nizam distributors lost ₹3 crore; those figures are not tied to a named outlet, so treat them as approximate.

Where to watch Devi Putrudu

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

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