Ghani

Ghani is a 2022 Telugu sports drama written and directed by Kiran Korrapati and produced by Sidhu Mudda and Allu Bobby under Renaissance Pictures and Allu Bobby Company. Varun Tej plays the title role, a boxer, with an ensemble cast including Upendra, Suniel Shetty, Jagapathi Babu, Saiee Manjrekar and Naveen Chandra, and Tamannaah in a special song. S. Thaman composed the music. After many postponements it was released on 8 April 2022 to largely negative reviews, and Varun Tej later acknowledged its box-office failure in a note on social media.

What the film is about

Ghani is a boxing film with a family revenge drama at its heart. Varun Tej plays Ghani, a young boxer whose story is tied to his father, Vikramaditya, played by Upendra, and to the boxing establishment represented by Suniel Shetty’s Vijender Sinha and Jagapathi Babu’s Eswarnath. Saiee Manjrekar plays Maya, the love interest. Critics described it as a sports-and-revenge drama; Wikipedia’s article does not include a plot summary, so we keep to that outline rather than guess at the story.

Cast

• Varun Tej as Ghani
• Upendra as Vikramaditya, Ghani’s father, and Nadhiya as his mother
• Suniel Shetty as Vijender Sinha and Jagapathi Babu as Eswarnath
• Saiee Manjrekar as Maya and Naveen Chandra as Aadi
• Naresh as Ghani’s college coach; Tamannaah Bhatia in the special song “Kodthe”

How it was made

The title was revealed in January 2021. For the role, Varun Tej trained under Tony Jeffries, the former English boxer who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Upendra joined in February 2021. The film was shot in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam, with special sets built for the boxing scenes.

Music

S. Thaman composed the score and songs, with music rights bought by Aditya Music. The first single, “Ghani Anthem”, came out on 27 October 2021.

Release and box office

Ghani was first due on 30 July 2021 but was postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic, then rescheduled several times, including a planned 25 February 2022 date that was moved to avoid Bheemla Nayak. It finally opened on 8 April 2022. The Times of India reported an opening-day haul of about ₹2.5–3 crore and close to ₹6 crore in two days; News18 reported that it tanked amid the success of RRR. Aha and Gemini TV bought the digital and satellite rights for a reported ₹25 crore combined.

What critics said

Neeshita Nyayapati of The Times of India (2.5 out of 5) called it “a decent sports drama, but that’s all it ends up being”. The News Minute (2 out of 5) called it “a half-baked sports drama full of déjà vu moments”, and The New Indian Express (1.5 out of 5) said it “fails to pack a punch”. Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu felt a few masala moments stood out but the film was “let down by insipid writing”.

Where to watch Ghani

Ghani premiered on Aha on 22 April 2022. A pre-release report in Telangana Today had said it would go to Netflix, and our OTT record lists both Netflix and Aha, but Wikipedia records the premiere on Aha. Check the platform before subscribing, as availability varies.

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