Killer

Killer (కిల్లర్) is a 1992 Telugu action thriller written and directed by Fazil, the Malayalam filmmaker, and produced by V. B. Rajendra Prasad under Jagapathi Art Pictures. It stars Nagarjuna and Nagma, with Sharada, Vijayakumar and Baby Shamili, and has music by Ilaiyaraaja. It released on 10 January 1992 and is Fazil’s only Telugu film as director.

How the film came to be made in Telugu

According to the film’s Wikipedia article, Fazil first planned the story in Malayalam with Mohanlal in the lead. Mohanlal, who was then mostly making films for family audiences, turned down the dark-themed role, so Fazil made the film in Telugu with Nagarjuna and changed the screenplay to suit. Killer was also the film that introduced Nagma to South Indian cinema. Fazil is the father of the actor Fahadh Faasil, which is why this film is often searched as “Fahadh Faasil’s father’s Telugu movie with Nagarjuna”.

What the story is about

A nurse named Mary rescues a newborn boy, Eeswar, after his mother is killed by goons, and raises him with her own children until money troubles force her to send him to an orphanage. Eeswar grows up hard, fighting for money. A politically ambitious man, Bhupathi Raja, hires him to kill two people in Hyderabad, Malavika and a little girl, Sneha, within 15 days. Posing as a foreign returnee called Prem Krishna, Eeswar gets close to Priya, who is connected to Malavika’s household, and the job becomes far more personal than he expected.

Cast

• Nagarjuna as Prem Krishna / Eeswar Prasad
• Nagma as Priya
• Sharada as Malavika
• Baby Shamili as Sneha
• Vijayakumar as Bhupathi Raja
• Allu Ramalingaiah as Priya’s grandfather and Nirmalamma as her grandmother
• Brahmanandam as S. I. Brahmanandam
• Annapurna as Mary
• Giri Babu as Malavika’s husband, with Ahuti Prasad, Suthi Velu, Rama Prabha, Narsing Yadav and Thalapathy Dinesh

Music

Ilaiyaraaja composed the soundtrack, with lyrics by Veturi; it was released by LEO Audio.

Release and reception

Killer was a commercial success and ran for more than 100 days in theatres, according to Wikipedia, citing Asianet News. It was dubbed into Tamil and released as Eashwar in October 1992. Our record lists a running time of 158 minutes.

Where to watch Killer

No streaming platform is on file for Killer. If it is added to a platform’s catalogue with a source, the OTT box on this page will show it.

Sources: the Wikipedia article on Killer and the report it cites, linked above; our own cast, crew and release records.