Varsham

Varsham (meaning “Rain”) is a 2004 Telugu romantic action film directed by Sobhan and produced by M. S. Raju under Sumanth Art Productions. Prabhas and Trisha star, with Gopichand as the villain and Prakash Raj and Chandra Mohan in supporting roles. Devi Sri Prasad composed the music. Released on 14 January 2004, at Sankranti, it was a blockbuster that gave Prabhas his breakthrough and established Trisha as a leading actress in Telugu cinema.

What the story is about

Venkat, an unemployed young man, meets Sailaja on a train to Warangal, and they bond while dancing in a sudden downpour. Every time they meet after that, it rains, and they fall in love. But Sailaja has also caught the eye of Bhadranna, a ruthless and powerful factionist who becomes obsessed with her. And her selfish father, Ranga Rao, sees his daughter mainly as a way to make money, first through a marriage to Bhadranna and then through a film career. Between a jealous strongman and a scheming father, the lovers’ path is anything but smooth; we stop the plot there.

Cast

• Prabhas as Venkat
• Trisha as Sailaja, in her first Telugu film
• Gopichand as Bhadranna
• Prakash Raj as Sailaja’s father Ranga Rao
• Ramya Krishna and Mukesh Rishi as Venkat’s parents, Chandra Mohan as his uncle
• Brahmanandam, Sunil and Jaya Prakash Reddy in supporting roles; director K. Viswanath in a small part as Sailaja’s grandfather

Music

Devi Sri Prasad’s soundtrack, with all lyrics by Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry, was released by Aditya Music on 18 December 2003 at Annapurna Studios. Reviewing it for Telugu Cinema, NaChaKi wrote that the songs “can be elevated by visuals, but also can stand by themselves”, and singled out Sastry’s lyrics.

Release and box office

Varsham opened on 14 January 2004. T2BLive lists a distributors’ share of ₹21 crore, which would make it the second highest-grossing Telugu film of 2004. Wikipedia records a 50-day run in 125 centres and a silver-jubilee (175-day) celebration attended by Chiranjeevi as chief guest. The film was re-released in 4K on 11 November 2022.

What critics said

Jeevi of Idlebrain.com called it “a love story with good technical values. You may definitely watch this film”. Sify’s critic felt the second half had “an overdose of violence” and that Sobhan lost grip on the story after a fast first half, but still found it “worth a look”.

Legacy and remakes

Varsham was remade in Tamil as Mazhai (2005) and in Hindi as Baaghi (2016). Trisha marked its 2022 re-release by thanking fans and saying “films are forever”, OTTplay reported.

Where to watch Varsham

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

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