Janda Pai Kapiraju

Janda Pai Kapiraju (transl. Hanuman on the Flag) is a 2015 Indian Telugu-language political action drama written and directed by Samuthirakani. It stars Nani, in a double role for the first time in his career, and Amala Paul. It was made alongside the Tamil version, Nimirndhu Nil, which starred Ravi Mohan and came out in 2014. The Telugu version was released on 21 March 2015.

Story

Aravind, a young man raised in an ashram with strong moral values, is shaken by the corruption he finds once he goes out into the world. With his friends, a lawyer, a journalist and his girlfriend Indumathi, he invents a fake identity called Harish Chandra. They use it to lure government officials into taking bribes and expose 147 of them. The exposed officials fight back by finding a real lookalike to claim to be Harish Chandra, and the battle moves to the courts.

Cast

Nani plays two roles, a man of 24 and a man of 42. Amala Paul plays the female lead in both language versions. Ragini Dwivedi was persuaded to take an important role.

Production

The film was produced by K. S. Sreenivasan’s Vaasan Visual Ventures and launched at Annapurna Studios on 1 August 2013, with shooting beginning the next day. About half had been shot by March 2014, when the first look was released on Nani’s birthday, and a three-week schedule followed in Hyderabad. The looks for Nani’s two roles were revealed in November 2014, and filming wrapped on 5 December 2014.

Music

G. V. Prakash Kumar composed the music for both versions, which share the same soundtrack. The audio was launched on the Saregama label at Shilpakala Vedika, Hyderabad, on 28 December 2013.

Release

After a long delay, the Telugu version reached theatres on 21 March 2015. It was later dubbed back into Tamil and released as Velan Ettuthikkum in 2018, even though a Tamil original already existed.

Sources: Wikipedia and Wikidata.