Thammudu

Thammudu (“Younger Brother”) is a 1999 Telugu sports action film written and directed by P. A. Arun Prasad, starring Pawan Kalyan as a college wastrel who finds his purpose in the kickboxing ring. Preeti Jhangiani and Aditi Gowitrikar co-star, with Achyuth as his elder brother. Inspired by the American film Breaking Away (1979) and remade from the Hindi Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992), it was released on 15 July 1999, became a blockbuster, and its Ramana Gogula soundtrack became a trendsetter.

What the story is about

Subbu is the carefree younger son of a café owner, Viswanadh: he chases girls, hangs about with friends, keeps failing his exams and resents his father. His elder brother Chakri is the opposite, a college kickboxer and their father’s favourite, who keeps losing to his rich rival Rohit of the elite Model College. Subbu treats his neighbour Jaanu, a garage owner’s daughter who secretly loves him, as a friend and a ready source of money and cars, and lies his way into a romance with a rich Model College girl, Lovely. When his lies catch up with him and his father throws him out, Subbu has to decide what kind of man he wants to be, and the road leads to the inter-college kickboxing championship.

Cast and crew

• Pawan Kalyan as Subramanyam “Subbu”
• Preeti Jhangiani as Janaki “Jaanu”
• Aditi Gowitrikar as Lovely
• Bhupinder Singh as Rohit
• Achyuth as Chakri, Subbu’s elder brother
• Kitty as Viswanadh, their father
• Chandra Mohan as Jaanu’s father
• Brahmanandam as a Telugu lecturer and Ali as Kodandarama Manoharan
• Venu Madhav as Subbu’s friend and Mallikarjuna Rao as Malli

Writer and director: P. A. Arun Prasad. Producer: Burugupalli Sivaramakrishna (Sri Venkateswara Art Films). Music: Ramana Gogula. Cinematography: Madhu Ambat. Editing: Marthand K. Venkatesh. Runtime: 162 minutes.

Reviews

The Deccan Herald enjoyed the “fun-frolic situations” of the first half and the “heart-wringing moments” of the second, called Ramana Gogula’s score “finger-snapping and peppy”, but criticised the dubbing for the heroines.

Box office

Coming after Suswagatham and Tholi Prema, Thammudu was another major success for Pawan Kalyan. Anniversary reports by Telugu360 and Namasthe Telangana put its theatrical business at ₹4.5–5.2 crore and its distributors’ share at ₹9.25–9.46 crore, with a profit of over ₹4 crore for buyers. Namasthe Telangana adds that it was the second-highest grosser in the Nizam region after Choodalani Vundi (1998). The Times of India reported fans celebrating its anniversary as one of his most memorable films.

It was remade in Tamil as Badri (2001), in Kannada as Yuvaraja (2001) and in Bengali as Champion (2003).

Where to watch Thammudu

We do not have a confirmed streaming listing for the 1999 Thammudu on file. If we verify one with a platform, it will appear on this page.

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