Indra

Indra is a 2002 Telugu action drama directed by B. Gopal and produced by C. Aswani Dutt under Vyjayanthi Movies. Chiranjeevi plays the title role, a factional leader from Rayalaseema, with Aarthi Agarwal and Sonali Bendre, and Mukesh Rishi, Sivaji and Prakash Raj in key roles. Mani Sharma composed the music. Released on 24 July 2002, it became the highest-grossing Telugu film up to then and is one of the biggest hits of Chiranjeevi’s career; its Hindi dub, Indra: The Tiger, later became a fixture of Hindi television.

What the story is about

In a Rayalaseema village, two clans are locked in a cycle of revenge killings. When his father is murdered, the young Indrasena Reddy takes up the sword and the seat of clan leader. Years later, in 2002, a man called Shankar Narayana is an honest taxi driver in Varanasi, raising his niece and nephew. Pallavi, the daughter of the state governor, falls for him, and the governor recognises who Shankar really is. When a wedding in the family exposes a connection to the old enemy clan, Shankar’s past as Indra comes out, and the story moves back to the village, a water crisis, and a feud he must finally settle. We stop there.

Cast

• Chiranjeevi as Indrasena “Indra” Reddy / Shankar Narayana, with Teja Sajja as the young Indra
• Aarthi Agarwal as Snehalatha Reddy and Sonali Bendre as Pallavi
• Mukesh Rishi as Veera Shankar Reddy
• Sivaji as Giri, with Tanish playing the character as a boy
• Prakash Raj as the governor, Chenna Kesava Reddy
• Tanikella Bharani, Sunil, Brahmanandam and Dharmavarapu Subramanyam in supporting roles

How it was made

Writer Chinni Krishna brought Aswani Dutt and B. Gopal a story about Rayalaseema’s water crisis woven into factional conflict. Gopal was hesitant, after an earlier unsuccessful film with Chiranjeevi, but writer Paruchuri Gopala Krishna persuaded him, and the backdrop moved from the Krishna-Godavari region to Varanasi and the Ganga. Jyothika and Simran were considered for the heroines before Aarthi Agarwal and Sonali Bendre were cast. Aswani Dutt suggested the title Indra two months into filming. The film was shot in 120 working days, with Varanasi recreated at Annapurna Studios, a Rayalaseema village set at Ramoji Film City, location work in Varanasi and Lucknow, and two duets in Switzerland.

Music

Mani Sharma composed the soundtrack, except “Ayyo Ayyo Ayyayyo”, which R. P. Patnaik composed because Mani Sharma was unavailable. Six songs were chosen from 11 recorded. The audio was launched at Annapurna Studios on 14 June 2002, 45 days before the film’s release instead of the usual 20 to 30, to give the music more time to catch on.

Release and box office

Indra opened on 24 July 2002 on 268 screens, with fans queuing from midnight and reports of black-market ticket sales. Idlebrain.com‘s record page cites a distributors’ share of ₹32 crore, a record at the time, and Telugu outlets including Namasthe Telangana and Eenadu describe it as the highest-grossing Telugu film of its time and the first to gross over ₹50 crore. Wikipedia records a 100-day run in 122 centres and a 175-day run in 32 centres. Collections in some areas fell in September 2002 when, as Idlebrain.com reported, 70,000 pirated CDs flooded the market.

What critics said

Jeevi of Idlebrain.com gave it four and a half out of 5, calling the first half “a perfect blend of mass and class elements”, and Sify found it “refreshing and a good entertainer with Chiru at his best”.

Legacy

Chiranjeevi won both the Nandi Award and the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu, and the film won three Nandi Awards and two Filmfare Awards South in all. The Hindi-dubbed Indra: The Tiger became a ratings staple: in 2015 the Hindustan Times wrote that it “seems to have become a permanent fixture on TV”. Indra was also remade in Bengali as Dada (2005) and in Bangladesh as Goriber Dada (2006).

Where to watch Indra

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

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