Gharshana

Gharshana (“Friction” or “Clash”) is a 2004 Telugu action thriller directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon in his Telugu debut, a remake of his own 2003 Tamil hit Kaakha Kaakha. Venkatesh plays an uncompromising police officer and Asin the teacher he falls for, with Harris Jayaraj returning as composer. Released on 30 July 2004, it drew mixed reviews but became a moderate box-office success.

What the story is about

DCP Ramachandra, “Ram”, is an honest, fearless IPS officer in Hyderabad’s crime branch. With no family to worry about, he joins three fellow officers in a special unit set up to break the city’s organised gangs, and the unit’s ruthless methods soon get it disbanded. Ram, moved to control-room duty, meets Maya, a school teacher who at first brushes him off, and the two slowly fall in love. Then a gangster who escaped the unit’s operations is joined by his estranged brother Panda, who returns from Mumbai with a cruel method of revenge: he targets his enemies’ families. The film follows the reassembled unit’s war with the gang, and it gets very dark; we will leave the rest unspoiled.

Cast and crew

• Venkatesh as DCP Ramachandra “Ram”
• Asin as Maya
• Salim Baig as Panda
• Ravi Prakash as Rajesh
• Daniel Balaji as Srikanth
• Vamsi Krishna as Jagan
• Yog Japee as Dass
• Satyam Rajesh as Constable Ansari, Ram’s driver

Director: Gautham Vasudev Menon. Producers: G. Sivaraju, C. Venkatraju and Kalaipuli S. Thanu (Geeta Chitra International). Music: Harris Jayaraj. Runtime: 159 minutes.

Making the film

N. T. Rama Rao Jr. and Prabhas were both interested in the lead role before Venkatesh was cast. The muhurat puja was held on 19 January 2004 without him, as he was still shooting Malliswari.

Music

Harris Jayaraj kept the Kaakha Kaakha soundtrack for the remake, apart from two new songs, “Ye Chilipi” and “Andagaada”. The album was released on Aditya Music, with Pawan Kalyan, Prabhas, Jyothika and K. Raghavendra Rao among the guests at the Hyderabad launch. Reviewing it for Idlebrain, Sreya Sunil called the music “racy and infectiously catchy”.

Reviews and box office

Jeevi of Idlebrain praised the music, Venkatesh, the photography and the stylish making, but criticised the slow narration, the lack of Telugu commercial elements and dry scenes, concluding that the film “has got more style and less substance”. Sify was more taken with it: “Speed, style and sparkle are the essence of Gharshanaa.”

Despite the mixed notices, an Idlebrain report says the film completed a 50-day run in 70 centres, and it is counted as a moderate success.

Where to watch Gharshana

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

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