Saaho

Shot simultaneously in Telugu and Hindi languages, Saaho stars Prabhas in the title role, and an ensemble cast of Shraddha Kapoor, Chunky Pandey, Jackie Shroff, Arun Vijay, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Lal, Murali Sharma, Mandira Bedi, Mahesh Manjrekar, Prakash Belawadi, Tinnu Anand, Evelyn Sharma, Supreeth, Devan and Vennela Kishore. It is the Hindi film debut of Prabhas and the Telugu film debut of Shraddha Kapoor. The film follows two undercover officers, searching for a robber who has stolen ₹2,000 crore (US$284 million). They soon realise the case is linked to the death of a prominent business tycoon and an emerging gang war for the control of a megalopolis.

Saaho
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Sujeeth
Written by	Sujeeth
Produced by	V. Vamsi Krishna Reddy Pramod Uppalapati Bhushan Kumar Krishan Kumar
Starring	Prabhas Shraddha Kapoor Chunky Pandey Jackie Shroff Arun Vijay Neil Nitin Mukesh Lal Murali Sharma Mandira Bedi Mahesh Manjrekar Prakash Belawadi Evelyn Sharma Vennela Kishore
Cinematography	R. Madhi
Edited by	A. Sreekar Prasad
Music by	Songs: Tanishk Bagchi Guru Randhawa Badshah Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy Score: Ghibran
Production companies	T-Series UV Creations
Distributed by	AA Films
Release date	31 August 2018 (2018-08-31) (India)
Running time	170 minutes
Country	India
Languages	Telugu Hindi
Budget	₹350 crore
Box office	est. ₹419–439 crore

Principal photography for Saaho began in August 2017. Filming took place in India, UAE, Romania and Austria. The film's soundtrack was released by T-Series.

Saaho was released in India in regular and IMAX theatres on 31 August 2018. The film received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, who praised the cast performances, action sequences, VFX and cinematography, but criticized the writing, direction and runtime. Saaho grossed ₹419 crore (US$59.5 million)–₹439 crore (US$62.34 million) worldwide against its budget of ₹325 crore. The film is an above average grosser at the box office while the Hindi version was commercially successful.

Narantak Roy is an influential businessman who leads Roy Group, a corporate company and world's biggest crime syndicate that governs Waaji City, a fictional metropolitan. When Roy visits Mumbai for a business deal, he is killed in a deliberate car crash. Devaraj, the son of Roy's friend, business partner, mentor and the former crime syndicate leader Pruthviraj, plans to declare himself the next leader of Waaji City. Ibrahim, Roy's most-trusted secretary, tells Kalki, the legal advisor of Roy Group, Roy's family has been dead for decades and that he had been hiding a secret – that he had a son named Vishwank Roy – for 25 years. Vishwank foils Devaraj's plans by succeeding his father as the city's leader. Vishwank is determined to discover the identity of his father's murderer.

In Mumbai, a master thief steals ₹2,000 crore (US$284 million) with ease. The culprit proves difficult to identify because he used random, unrelated people who were unaware they were assisting in a robbery, to steal the money; and a nationwide search ensues. Ashok Chakravarthy, an undercover police officer, is assigned to lead the search with the help of crime branch officers Amritha Nair, Goswami, and David. They uncover a thief named Jai, whom Ashok meets in a bar. Ashok discloses to Jai the information on a black box – the key to the locker in Waaji City holding ₹2000 billion (US$28.4 billion) of all of the board members of Roy Group. On Vishwank's orders, Kalki travels to Mumbai, retrieves the black box, and deposits it in a bank.

During these incidents, Amritha and Ashok fall in love. After an intense chase to catch Jai stealing the box, Amritha, Ashok and David – the team's cyber-intelligence officer – confront Jai. However, It is revealed Jai is really the covert operative Ashok Chakravarthy. The lead officer who had been with the team is actually Saaho, who is the thief. Saaho escapes with his partner David, who helped him disguise his identity during the operation. It is revealed Devaraj killed Roy to usurp control of the city. Amritha, working as a double agent, tracks Saaho and pretends to be in love with him, and wants a share in the stolen money. Amritha falls in love with Saaho and she betrays Ashok.

Devaraj shoots and kidnaps Amritha, forcing Saaho to give Devaraj the black box. Saaho, however, deceives Devaraj and gives the black box to Vishwank in return for Amritha's safety, which Vishwank reveals to Devaraj. Saaho destroys Devaraj's building and steals the money in Devaraj's lockers. Ashok and the police chase Saaho with a sniper in a helicopter and a person in a jet pack. Saaho overpowers his opponent. Amritha, also in the helicopter, tries to save Saaho by distracting the sniper, who pushes her into danger. Saaho saves Amritha with a jet pack but is arrested. Kalki is revealed to be on Devaraj's side; she opens the vault with Vishwank's fingerprint and the black box; instead of money, she finds pictures of Roy and his son. Saaho battles and defeats Devaraj's goons in Karana village, which Roy had previously protected.

Devaraj arrives. Saaho announces himself to be Siddhanth Nandan Saaho, Roy's real son, who he lovingly kept hidden from the world, in the hopes of him taking over his reins one day. Kalki dies after seeing the portrait of Roy and Saaho. Saaho kills Devaraj by decapitating him. Meanwhile, Ashok and Amritha are shocked to learn about Saaho's real identity from Vishwank and Alex Fernandes (a criminal who once was saved by Saaho and seen by Amritha in the bar where Saaho first encountered Ashok). Ibrahim reveals to the board members of Roy Group that Vishwank was not Roy's son, but Ibrahim's own son; his real name is Iqbal. He was brought in to protect Roy's throne until Saaho can return to claim it and kill his father's murderers. Iqbal then proceeds to kill Prince before Saaho arrives to the meeting. Ibrahim reveals Saaho's real identity to the board members, and Saaho becomes the ruler of Waaji City and CEO of Roy Group.

Months later, Saaho locates Amritha in Innsbruck, Austria, and proposes to her, which she accepts. A sniper aims at Saaho to take him out, to which, he opens his eyes, aware of the danger from the distance.

Saaho was produced on a budget of ₹325 crore, and was filmed in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Austria, Romania and other parts of Europe. Principal photography began in August 2017. It stars Prabhas and Shraddha Kapoor in the lead roles, and the supporting cast includes Arun Vijay, Jackie Shroff, Lal, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Mandira Bedi. A large part of the budget was spent filming the action scenes. International stunt coordinator Kenny Bates was brought in to choreograph the action scenes. Arun Vijay grew out his hair to portray his character in Saaho.

Saaho was simultaneously filmed in Telugu and Hindi, and many important scenes were planned to be filmed in Tamil; however, only the scene acted by Sharath Lohithaswa was filmed in Tamil. Saaho is Prabhas' debut in Hindi cinema and Kapoor's debut in Telugu cinema. The rest of the film including Kapoor's scenes were only filmed in Telugu and Hindi.

The film's first filming schedule, which was in Hyderabad, was completed by October 2017. The second schedule began in December 2017 at Ramoji Film City; according to the film's producers, Shraddha Kapoor's action sequences in the film were made with heavy weaponry. After a few days, filming shifted to Dubai for a month; some of the major action sequences were filmed in Dubai with Prabhas and Neil Nitin Mukesh, while Shraddha Kapoor switched to her next project Stree. After filming half of Saaho in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Dubai, the cast and crew began the fourth schedule in Abu Dhabi in February 2018, which ended within a few weeks. The fifth schedule, also in Abu Dhabi, started in late February and the sixth schedule began in mid-March in Dubai and Romania. The final leg of film and its romantic songs were filmed in Innsbruck and the Tyrol region of Austria.

An action sequence that features in an exceptionally long period of the screenplay was extensively filmed near the Burj Khalifa; 25 crores from the budget had been spent. Prabhas underwent rigorous training that involved cardiovascular and weight training, and plyometric obstacle races. Prabhas praised his co-star Shraddha Kapoor, stating she was the best choice for her strong character. Prabhas' character is grey-shaded. Prabhas plays a police officer.

Saaho includes some underwater sequences with Prabhas, who learnt scuba diving in preparation for his role. Prabhas dubbed his own lines in the Hindi version while a professional dubbing artist was hired for Shraddha Kapoor in the Telugu version. The film stars Neil Nitin Mukesh as the antagonist. Mandira Bedi, who is known for her grey roles on television, plays a negative role in the film as well.

Choreographer Vaibhavi Merchant filed two romantic songs; filming began in Innsbruck, Austria, and included the House of Music, the city's trams, Finstertal in Kühtai and Adlers Hotel. Some scenes were filmed in the nearby town Seefeld. Romantic songs were filmed at the "Top of Tyrol" viewing platform on Stubai Glacier, Restaurant ice Q in Sölden, Swarovski Crystal Worlds and the suspension bridge Highline179 at Reutte in the Tyrol region. Some parts of one romantic song were filmed at Redbull's Hangar 7 at Salzburg Airport. Robinville and Creative Creatures were service producers for the Austria schedule.

The songs in Saaho were composed by Tanishk Bagchi, Guru Randhawa, Badshah, and Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy. The lyrics were written by Krishna Kanth and Sreejo in Telugu, Tanishk Bagchi, MellowD, Guru Randhawa, Badshah, and Manoj Yadav in Hindi. A bonus track Bang Bang (Saaho Bang) was released after the film's release.

Tracklist Telugu

Tracklist Hindi

The first teaser poster featuring Prabhas from the film was revealed on his birthday, 22 October 2017; the poster received criticism, saying is similar to the poster of Blade Runner 2049. In July 2019, UV Creations announced the film's release date as 30 August 2019 in Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, and Malayalam.

Saaho – The Game, a First-person shooter mobile game was created by the Hyderabad-based company Pixalot Labs and was released on 15 August 2019. Zee Entertainment Enterprises took broadcasting rights in all languages. Amazon Prime Video took digital rights.

Saaho was released on 30 August 2019 worldwide in Telugu, Hindi, and Tamil, along with a dubbed Malayalam version. The film was distributed by T-Series in North India while SPI Cinemas bought the distribution rights for Tamil Nadu. The film was internationally released by Yash Raj Films and Phars films.

Lawsuit

Outshiny India, a luggage and bag manufacturer, filed a complaint and lawsuit against the director and multiple staff members for fraud and cheating at Madhapur police station. The manufacturers alleged the filmmakers defaulted on an expensive deal they signed with the manufacturer that mandated their product would be shown in the film. The company said the marketing, advocate and contract fees paid to the filmmakers resulted in a loss of ₹1.38 crore ($196,000).

Box office

Saaho made ₹130 crore ($18.4 million) on its opening day worldwide, the second-highest ever for an Indian film, exceeding that of 2.0's ₹117 crore ($16.6 million) but lower than Prabhas's previous film Baahubali 2: The Conclusion ₹212 crore, which held the record for the highest-opening Indian film at that time. After the second day, the worldwide collection was ₹220 crore. Saaho made ₹294 crore ($41.7 million) gross on its opening weekend worldwide and ₹370 crore ($52.5 million) in its first week. On day 10 Saaho exceeded ₹400 crore ($56.8 million). Its net revenue in India was ₹302 crore ($42.9 million) by the end of its theatrical run. Although, some sources mentioned that the worldwide box office collection of Saaho was over ₹600 Crores.

Critical response

Saaho received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, who praised Prabhas's performance, the cinematography, action sequences and visual effects, but criticized its length, screenplay and direction. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 8% based on 12 reviews with an average rating of 3.8/10.

Anupama Chopra of Film Companion said: "I know that a popcorn entertainer like Saaho isn't driven by logic or coherence. And I would have made my peace with it if the film delivered a good time. My biggest complaint is that it's a crashing bore. A lot of hard work has gone into creating the action and the extravagant sets. The budget is a reported 350 crores but for the viewer there's little bang for the buck."

Lakshana N Palat from India Today gave Saaho one-and-a-half stars out of five, calling it "a 350-crore disaster", and a "laboured and exhausting watch". She has added; "the saving grace of Saaho are the visuals and the high-octane action sequences", and that "the makers got so carried away with crafting action scenes and Prabhas' starry presence that they forgot about the story and character development midway".

Writing for The Times of India for the Tamil version, Thinkal Menon rated Saaho two-and-a-half stars out of five, praising the technical aspects but criticising the script. Menon stated the film was "largely dubbed in Tamil, leading to lip-sync issues". Taran Adarsh gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of five, commenting on its "weak story, confusing screenplay and amateur direction".

A reviewer for Bollywood Hungama gave Saaho two-and-a-half out of five, saying it "suffers from a lackadaisical script and a vacuous screenplay". Rajeev Masand of News18 gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of five; he praised Prabhas for his "enormous presence and unmistakable sincerity" but said the film has "all the depth and emotional wallop of a video game".

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