Bejawada or Bezawada is a 2011 Indian Telugu-language action crime film based on the Vijayawada Gang Warfare, directed by Vivek Krishna and produced by Ram Gopal Varma and Renny Johnson. The film stars Naga Chaitanya and Amala Paul. The movie was received negatively at the box office but positively at the television and OTT as it accurately depicted the historical gang war in Vijayawada. Later it was dubbed in Hindi as Hero: The Action Man (2013)[1] and also in Tamil as Vikram Dhadha. It marked Amala’s Telugu debut.
| Bejawada | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Vivek Krishna |
| Story by | Ram Gopal Varma |
| Produced by | Ram Gopal Varma Renny Johnson |
| Starring | Naga Chaitanya Amala Paul |
| Cinematography | S. Bhupathy |
| Edited by | Gautham Raju |
| Music by | Pradeep Koneru Vikram Negi Bapi-Tutul Amar Mohile |
Production company | Shreya Productions |
| Distributed by | Varma |
Release date |
|
| Country | India |
| Language | Telugu |
Plot
editKali Prasad, aka Kali (Prabhu), is the man of the masses in Bejawada. His group has a stronghold on the temple city. Vijay Krishna (Mukul Dev) is the right hand to Kali. Kali's brother Shankar Prasad aka Shankar (Abhimanyu Singh), does not like the supremacy of Vijay Krishna. Due to this personal grudge, Shankar plays the spoil sport of brutally killing his brother Kali and then spreads the rumor in Bejawada about Vijay Krishna as the man behind this murder. With the help of politician Ramana (Kota Srinivasa Rao), Shankar plans to become a politician but fails due to Vijay Krishna's authority on Student and Labor Unions. Vijay Krishna has two brothers Jaya Krishna (Ajay) and Siva Krishna (Naga Chaitanya). Shankar assassinates Vijay Krishna for building his own identity. It is time now for cool, daring and dashing Siva Krishna to enter the scene for completing the revenge saga. How the love life of Siva Krishna with college-mate Geeta (Amala Paul), daughter of top brass policeman Adi Vishnu (Ahuti Prasad), is affected in the process forms another angle in the story.
Cast
edit- Naga Chaitanya as Siva Krishna
- Amala Paul as Geethanjali
- Prabhu as Kali Prasad
- Abhimanyu Singh as Shankar Prasad
- Mukul Dev as Vijay Krishna
- Kota Srinivasa Rao as Ramana
- Brahmanandam as Sketch Gopi
- Ajay as Jaya Krishna
- Ahuti Prasad as Adi Vishnu
- M. S. Narayana as Veera Venkata Durga Prasad
- Subhalekha Sudhakar
- Prudhvi Raj
- Shravan
- Bharath Raju
- Satya Prakash
- Ashok Kumar
Production
editRam Gopal Varma announced that he was to direct a Telugu film titled Bejawada Rowdilu in a press note in September 2010, which would revolve around the rowdy wars of Vijayawada, also known as Bejawada.[2] The title started a controversy from Vijayawada locales who felt that title wrongly defamed their city, so Varma in August 2011 announced that the film would simply be known as Bejawada.[3] The film was officially launched on 12 May 2011 with Ram Gopal Varma's protégé, Vivek Krishna, announced as the director.[4] The team held a photo shoot and filmed for two days in Vijayawada with Preetika Rao, before removing her from the project with the producer citing that she looked older than the lead actor, Naga Chaitanya.[5] She was subsequently replaced by Amala Paul.
Soundtrack
edit| Bejawada | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album to Bejawada by Vikram Negi, Bapitutul, Amar Mohile, Pradeep Koneru, Prem | |||||
| Released | 7 November 2011 | ||||
| Recorded | 2011 | ||||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | ||||
| Length | 36:09 | ||||
| Language | Telugu | ||||
| Label | Aditya Music | ||||
| Producer | Ram Gopal Varma | ||||
| |||||
The audio songs were released in an FM Studio in Hyderabad. Bejawada's audio release function was a rather low key affair. The songs were released in the market on 7 November. Vikram Negi, Bapitutul, Amar Mohile, Pradeep Koneru, Prem have scored the music for Bejawada.
| Track # | Song | Singer(s) | Composition | Lyrics | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Durgamma Krishnamma" | Jojo Nathaniel | Vikram Negi | Rehman | 05:09 |
| 2 | "Adagaku Nannemi" | Javed Ali, Chandreyee Bhattacharya | Bapitutul | Kaluva Sai | 03:52 |
| 3 | "Ninnu Chusina" | Javed Ali, Swetha Pandit | Amar Mohile | Sira Sri | 05:00 |
| 4 | "Konte Choopulu" | Vedala Hemachandra, Geetha Madhuri | Pradeep Koneru | Rehman | 03:38 |
| 5 | "Rammu Ginnu" | Deepthi Chari | Praveen Koneru | Sira Sri | 05:38 |
| 6 | "Aigiri Nandini" | Ravi Shankar | Sri Adi Shankaracharya | 04:11 | |
| 7 | "Beza Beza" | Jojo Nanathiel | Amar Mohile | Sira Sri | 03:04 |
| 8 | "Le Legara" | Srikanth | Prem | Chaitanya Prasad | 04:15 |
Critical reception
editThe film received extremely negative reviews, both from critics and audiences. 123telugu rated it 1.75/5, lamenting that the film had "No of heroism in the first half, no villainism in the second half".[6] Greatandhra rated it 1/5 and said that the film had "racha to do with the history".[7] Rediff.com rated it 1.5/5 and stated that "Bezawada is let down by its script".[8] The Times Of India rated it 1/5 and said that "Despite all the expectations riding on it, "Bejawada" joins the long list of disasters from the RGV factory."[9]
Accolades
edit- Nominated – Best Female Debut (Telugu)- Amala Paul
References
edit- ^ "Bejawada Dubbed in Hindi as Hero The Action Man". Southy Mania. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
- ^ "Chaitanya's Bejawada Rowdilu rolls on". Sify. Archived from the original on 17 June 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
- ^ "Bejawada to be a sensational movie from RGV". IndiaGlitz. Archived from the original on 14 October 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
- ^ "RGV's next: Bejawada Rowdilu". Sify. Archived from the original on 21 May 2011. Retrieved 28 September 2011.
- ^ "Amala Paul ousts Preetika Rao". Deccan Chronicle. Archived from the original on 21 November 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
- ^ "Review : Bejawada – No heroism in 1st half, no villainism in 2nd half". 123telugu.com. 2 December 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
- ^ Arikatla, Venkat (1 December 2011). greatandhra.com https://www.greatandhra.com/movies/reviews/bejawada-review-nothing-to-do-with-history-33940. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Rajamani, Radhika. "Review: Bezawada is let down by its script". Rediff. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
- ^ "Bejawada Movie Review {1/5}: Critic Review of Bejawada by Times of India", The Times of India, retrieved 16 August 2022