Dubai Seenu

Dubai Seenu is a 2007 Telugu action comedy directed by Srinu Vaitla and produced by D. V. V. Danayya. Ravi Teja plays a villager who sets out for Dubai and never gets further than Mumbai, with Nayanthara as the radio jockey he falls for and Mani Sharma’s music. Released on 8 June 2007 on nearly 250 prints, it was well received and gave Ravi Teja a much-needed hit after Khatarnak (2006). Its comedy scenes are still widely quoted, and it was remade in Kannada as Dubai Babu (2009).

What the story is about

Srinivas is known in his village as “Dubai Seenu” because all he talks about is making his fortune in Dubai. He and his friends get as far as Mumbai, where a con man, Tataji, cheats them of their money, thanks partly to the hapless Ramki. Stuck in the city, the friends open a pav bhaji stall with the help of Patnaik, another fraudster. Seenu meets Madhumati, a radio jockey who has come to Mumbai to look for her brother, on a local train and falls for her, but when he finally proposes she disappears without an answer. While looking for her, Seenu helps a young man, Chakri, marry the girl he loves, and Chakri promises to get Seenu to Dubai in return. What Chakri and his wife stumble on at work changes everything, and we will leave the rest to the film.

Cast and crew

• Ravi Teja as Srinivas “Seenu”
• Nayanthara as Madhumati
• J. D. Chakravarthy as Chakri
• Neha Bamb as Pooja
• Brahmanandam as Ramakrishna “Ramki”
• Krishna Bhagavaan as Patnaik
• Venu Madhav as Tataji
• Sayaji Shinde as Circle Inspector Babji
• Raghu Babu as Constable Durga
• M. S. Narayana
• Sunil as Seenu’s cousin
• Sushant Singh as Jinnah Bhai

Director: Srinu Vaitla. Producer: D. V. V. Danayya (Universal Media). Music: Mani Sharma, with lyrics by Ramajogayya Sastry and Sahithi. Runtime: 157 minutes.

Reviews

The film went down well with critics and audiences. The Hindu’s review, headlined “A Ravi Teja show all the way“, conceded “there are blemishes in the screenplay” but argued that in a film like this logic is never the point, noting that “Dubai Seenu never visits Dubai”. Idlebrain called it a time-pass film for anyone who enjoys Ravi Teja’s brand of comedy, and Rediff.com headlined its review “Dubai Seenu entertains”.

Box office

According to iQlikmovies, the film earned ₹10.73 crore in its first week and ₹15.89 crore by the end of its second, holding its own against Rajinikanth’s Sivaji. In an interview with Idlebrain, Srinu Vaitla put the budget at ₹9 crore and spoke of the film as a big hit that cheered up Ravi Teja after Khatarnak. The trade site T2BLive lists it among 2007’s top Telugu earners.

Where to watch Dubai Seenu

We do not have a confirmed streaming listing for Dubai Seenu on file. If we verify one with a platform, it will appear on this page.

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