Sarileru Neekevvaru

It is produced by Sri Venkateswara Creations, G. Mahesh Babu Entertainment and AK Entertainments. The film stars Mahesh Babu, Rashmika Mandanna and Vijayashanti while Prakash Raj and Rajendra Prasad play supporting roles. Devi Sri Prasad composed the music while R. Rathnavelu handled the cinematography.

Sarileru Neekevvaru
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Anil Ravipudi
Written by	Anil Ravipudi
Produced by	Rambrahmam Sunkara
Starring	Mahesh Babu Rashmika Mandanna Vijayashanti Prakash Raj Rajendra Prasad
Cinematography	R. Rathnavelu
Edited by	Tammiraju
Music by	Devi Sri Prasad
Production companies	Sri Venkateswara Creations G. Mahesh Babu Entertainment AK Entertainments
Distributed by	AK Entertainments
Release date	11 January 2020 (2020-01-11)
Running time	169 minutes
Country	India
Language	Telugu
Budget	₹75 crore
Box office	est. ₹260 crore

Production began on 31 May 2019 in Hyderabad. Shooting began on 5 July 2019 at Kashmir and lasted till mid-November 2019. The film released on 11 January 2020 on 2050 screens worldwide coinciding with Sankranti. Produced on a budget of ₹75 crore, upon release, it received praise for its humor, performances, cinematography, and action sequences, but criticism aimed at screenplay, story and excessive length, and the film was commercially successful grossing more than ₹260 crore worldwide becoming the second highest grossing telugu movie of 2020. According to box-office tracking portal Box Office Mojo, the film has grossed US$37.38 million worldwide.

Bharathi is a medical college professor. She lives with her elder daughter-in-law, daughter and an adoptive daughter. Her elder son was an army martyr while her younger son is a Captain in the Indian Army. She calls her son to come for the arrangements for her daughter's wedding. The scene then shifts to Ajay Krishna who is a Major in the Para SF where Bharathi's son who is also named Ajay is also a member of the regiment. During a shootout in a rescue operation, Ajay gets severely injured. General Murali Sharma sends Ajay Krishna and his colleague Captain Prasad to inform the news to Ajay's family after the wedding thus ensuring that the preparations are not disturbed. On the way to Kurnool on a train, they come across Samskruthi, who is an irritating-comic girl. Samskruthi sees Ajay Krishna and falls in love with him. She tries to impress Ajay unusually but to no avail.

Once Ajay Krishna and Prasad reach Kurnool, they find Bharathi's house empty. Eventually, they find that she and her family went into hiding to escape from MLA Yeddula Nagendra. When they are caught by Nagendra's men who threaten to kill them, Ajay Krishna arrives and thrashes the men with a warning that he would deal with Nagendra in the same way. Nagendra's main henchman narrates this to Nagendra. Meanwhile, Bharathi reveals to Ajay Krishna that she had lodged a case against Nagendra for planning the murder of her brother's son, which was covered up as a suicide. When Nagendra threatens her to withdraw the case, she stood her ground. Consequently, Bharathi is suspended from the college on the allegation of leaking the exam paper and her daughter's marriage gets called off. Ajay Krishna, along with Bharathi leaves for Nagendra's house and challenges him, stating that he will change him into a responsible citizen, by making him surrender after fetching all the evidence.

Ajay Krishna re-arranges Bharathi's daughter's marriage with the same person after convincing her in-laws. He also rescues a government officer Ramakrishna from goons in a forest and later learns from him that Nagendra has been involved in a scam, who along with a bank officer who is Bharathi's brother's son, Ramakrishna tried to uncover the scam with the help of a techie, who works in Nagendra Technologies (which is founded by Nagendra and is running his scams). Nagendra found out about this and got the bank officer and the techie killed while getting Ramakrishna held captive in a forest. Ajay Krishna then confronts Nagendra's party members and explains about the scams committed by numerous politicians and threatens the party members from protecting Nagendra who the party members eventually throw him out of the party.

Finally, Bharathi's daughter's marriage takes place while Ajay is declared dead, and Ajay Krishna informs the family after the wedding. After performing his last rites, Ajay Krishna and Prasad decide to return to Kashmir, while Ajay Krishna also accepts Samskruthi's proposal in between. Despite gathering the evidence, Ajay Krishna spares Nagendra from being jailed as he might use sympathy to leave prison and resume his corrupt activities. Instead, Ajay Krishna tells Nagendra that he is appointed to the Indian Army so that he will be disciplined and lead an honest life thereafter. Three months later, Nagendra is a reformed leader who believes in discipline and respects everyone, and Ajay Krishna marrying Samskruthi.

Development

In mid February 2019, it was reported that Mahesh Babu, who was working on Maharshi (2019) at the time, was reported to collaborate with Anil Ravipudi for his next film after Maharshi. A few days later, sources claimed that the venture would be produced by Dil Raju and Anil Sunkara under Sri Venkateswara Creations. Filming to reportedly commence in May that year, the team were finalizing cast and crew and scouting for filming locations the same month. On 31 May, Dil Raju and Ramabrahmam Sunkara of Sri Venkateswara Creations and Mahesh Babu himself of GMB Entertainment publicly announced the venture, as they were producing it. The title of the film and release date were revealed the same day.

Casting

In early March 2019, Sai Pallavi was reported to be in consideration for the lead actress role. Few days later, Rashmika Mandanna was reported to have been approached for the role. On 31 May that year, Mandanna and Vijayashanti were announced being part of the cast. The former was signed to pair opposite Babu for the first time, while the latter was signed for crucial role, marking her comeback to film industry after 13 years. Tamannaah was signed in for a party song. The film also marks the comeback of Sangeetha and Bandla Ganesh into movies after many years.

Filming

The first schedule was shot in Kashmir from July 5 to July 20, 2019. For the second schedule, a replica set of Konda Reddy Buruju was constructed in Ramoji Film City with an estimated cost of ₹40 million (US$500,000). On 8 November 2019, with the Kerala schedule the talkie part of the film wrapped up.

Sarileru Neekevvaru
Soundtrack album by Devi Sri Prasad
Released	5 January 2020
Recorded	2019
Studio	Brindavan – The Garden Of Music
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	21:06
Language	Telugu
Label	Lahari Music T-Series
Producer	Devi Sri Prasad
Devi Sri Prasad chronology
Maharshi (2019) Sarileru Neekevvaru (2020) Alludu Adhurs (2021)
External audio   Official Audio Jukebox on YouTube

The music is composed by Devi Sri Prasad, collaborating with Mahesh Babu for the fifth time and with Anil Ravipudi for the second time after F2: Fun and Frustration. The lyrics were written by Devi Sri Prasad, Sri Mani and Ramajogayya Sastry. Composer Devi worked with a special orchestra in Europe for recording the film's soundtrack and score. The makers announced that the film features five songs and all of them will be released as singles, on five consecutive Mondays of the December month. The hashtag #MassMBMondays was trending on social media.

The first single track titled "Mind Block" was released on 2 December 2019, which was sung by Ranina Reddy with Blaaze singing the rap versions. Devi recorded this song while he was recording two other songs for his upcoming two films, on the same day. The second single track "Suryudivo Chandrudivo" was released on 9 December 2019, which was rendered by B Praak. The song resembles numbers, like "Idhe Kadha Nee Katha" from Maharshi (2019) and "Srimanthuda" from Srimanthudu (2015), which were composed by Devi Sri Prasad. The lyrics talk about the protagonist's kindness and greatness. The third single track "He's So Cute" was released on 16 December 2019, which was sung by Madhu Priya. It is termed as a teasing-romantic number. The fourth single "Sarileru Neekkevvaru Anthem" was released on 23 December 2019. Sung by Shankar Mahadevan, it features an orchestra from Europe, which recorded the film's score. The fifth single track "Daang Daang" was released on 30 December 2019, which was sung by Nakash Aziz and Lavita Lobo. The full album was released on 5 January 2020.

Home media

The satellite rights of the film were sold to Gemini TV, which premiered it on 25 March 2020 for the first time on eve of Ugadi and in its first Television premier movie recorded a TRP of 23.4. The film's digital rights were acquired by Amazon Prime Video and made available for streaming since 1 March 2020.

Dubbed versions

The film was dubbed and released in Tamil as Ivanukku Sariyana Aal Illai in 2020. The Tamil version was released across 200 plus theaters in Tamil Nadu. The Hindi dubbed version titled Sarileru was directly premiered on Goldmines TV channel on 15 August 2022. The film was also dubbed and released in Kannada as Major Ajay Krishna and in Malayalam as Krishnan.

Critical reception

India

The Times of India critic Neeshita Nyayapati, rated the film 3/5 stars and stated, "Sarileru Neekevvaru definitely has its moments but Anil Ravipudi’s bloated narrative that tries too hard." On performances, Nyayapati noted that Babu did a "good job of playing a man who will serve the country, crack jokes and protect," while also appreciating Vijayashanthi's role. She felt that DSP's music was "okay" and action by Ram-Lakshman was "engaging", but Ratnavelu's cinematography was "unfortunately overshadowed by subpar VFX shots." The editor of India Today, Janani K, rated the film 2/5 stars and wrote, "Mahesh Babu film is utterly disappointing." She stated that "Screenplay is replete with disjointed stories that are forced together." Janani also criticized the fake rape scene in the film, "The audacity to involve the heroine’s mother in faking a rape scene should be called out," she added.

First post editor Hemanth Kumar rated the film 3.25/5 stars and stated: "Mahesh Babu hits it out of the park in Anil Ravipudi's fine blend of heroism and comedy." In a review for The Indian express, Manoj Kumar rated the film 3.5/5 stars and wrote "Mahesh Babu shines in mind bending popcorn fare." Sify gave the film 3/5 and called it a "A commercial action-entertainer." Sangeetha Devi of The Hindu wrote "Mahesh Babu's film is a partly entertaining mixed bag." A reviewer of The Hans India rated the film 3/5 stars and wrote, "The movie will be like an eye feast for the audience who have been waiting to see Mahesh Babu in a complete entertaining role"

Overseas

Nagarjuna Rao of Gulf News felt that Mahesh Babu has nothing to offer and quoted that "Story about an Army Major loses the plot and veers into inane comedy. The less said about Rashmika the better. She’s been reduced to a dumb femme who swoons at the sight of Mahesh and mouths her catchphrase ‘Neeku artham autunda?’"

Box office

Sarileru Neekevvaru on the opening day collected ₹680 million (US$8.5 million) gross, beating Mahesh Babu's previous best Maharshi ₹590 million (US$7.4 million) gross worldwide. The film grossed ₹1 billion (equivalent to ₹1.2 billion or US$15 million in 2023) in three days, and ₹2 billion (US$25 million) in 10 days. After a run of 50 days, the film grossed ₹2.6 billion (US$38 million) at worldwide box office, becoming one of the highest-grossing Telugu films.

Domestic

In Telugu-speaking states (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana), the film collected a share of ₹327.7 million on the opening day. Collecting over ₹1 billion share in Telugu states in 10 days.

Overseas

At the USA box office movie collected US$759,000 through premiere shows. On the opening day movie collected A$ 236,754 in Australia, NZ$ 20,757 in New Zealand and £ 55,234 in United Kingdom and in two days the movie collected US$1.31 million in United States of America. In three days the movie collected CA$6,454 (₹457,000) from Canada, US$1,624,974 (₹115.1 million) from USA and £70,689 (₹6.51 million) from UK. In nine days the movie collected US$2 million (₹142.1 million) from USA, A$349,258 (₹17.1 million) from Australia £96,218 (₹8.88 million) from UK and NZ$35,566 (₹1.67 million) from New Zealand. And it crossed over $2.3 million in United States and marked as 3rd film to collect $2 million in Mahesh Babu's career after Srimanthudu and Bharat Ane Nenu.