The Ghost

The Ghost is a 2022 Telugu action thriller written and directed by Praveen Sattaru, produced by Sri Venkateswara Cinemas LLP and North Star Entertainment. Nagarjuna plays a former Interpol operative, with Sonal Chauhan, Gul Panag (in her Telugu debut) and Anikha Surendran. It was released on 5 October 2022, at Vijayadashami, against Chiranjeevi’s Godfather. Reviews were mostly negative and it performed poorly at the box office, but its action sequences drew praise even from unimpressed critics. It has streamed on Netflix since 2 November 2022.

What the story is about

Vikram Naidu is an Interpol officer in Dubai haunted by the 1984 riots in Delhi, in which his mother was killed when he was a boy, and by a mission that went wrong. Years later, retired from Interpol and working freelance, he gets a call from his estranged sister Anu, who now runs a large business group and has been receiving death threats. Fearing for her teenage daughter Aditi, Anu asks Vikram to protect her, and he takes the job as the girl’s bodyguard while quietly investigating who wants the family harmed. Underworld figures from his past, who once knew him only as “the Ghost”, soon become part of the picture; we leave the rest of the plot unspoiled.

Cast

• Nagarjuna as Vikram Naidu
• Sonal Chauhan as Priya, an NCB officer and Vikram’s former partner
• Gul Panag as Anupama, Vikram’s sister
• Anikha Surendran as Aditi, her daughter
• Manish Chaudhari as Lala, with Ravi Varma, Srikanth Iyengar and Kalyani Natarajan

How it was made

Producer Sunil Narang first wanted to remake the Hindi film Raid (2018) with Nagarjuna, but also wanted a full-length action film, so Sattaru wrote a new script. Nagarjuna learned Krav Maga and katana sword fighting for the role. The film was launched in Secunderabad in February 2021 and its title announced on 29 August 2021, Nagarjuna’s birthday. The female lead changed several times: Kajal Aggarwal left due to her pregnancy, and Amala Paul and Jacqueline Fernandez also exited before Sonal Chauhan was cast. Shooting began in Hyderabad in February 2021, paused during the second COVID-19 wave, then moved to Dubai in March 2022 and Ooty in April, wrapping in August 2022.

Music

The songs and background score were composed by Bharatt-Saurabh and Mark K. Robin.

Release and box office

The Ghost opened on 5 October 2022 with a U/A certificate, and a Tamil-dubbed version was released as Ratchan: The Ghost. India Today reported that its first-day collection was in single digits (in crore). Wikipedia describes the film as a box-office bomb. Star Network bought the satellite rights.

What critics said

Most reviews were negative, though the action and Nagarjuna’s screen presence were widely singled out. OTTplay (3 out of 5) called its action choreography “breathtaking”, and the Hindustan Times found a predictable plot “salvaged by some never-seen-before action sequences and the actor’s charisma”. The Quint (2.5 out of 5) liked Nagarjuna’s “style and swag” but not the screenplay. The News Minute and India Today gave 2 out of 5, and The Indian Express gave 1 out of 5, calling it “neither cheeky as Mr. & Mrs. Smith nor entertaining as John Wick”.

Where to watch The Ghost

The Ghost began streaming on Netflix on 2 November 2022, in Telugu and in Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada dubs, according to Wikipedia. Availability varies by country, so check Netflix before subscribing. The OTT box on this page has the details we hold.

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