Simhadri (2003 film)

An orphan and good-hearted lad Simhadri, grows up under Ram Bhupal Varma's family care in Visakhapatnam. The bond they share is like that of a father and son. Kasturi is Varma's granddaughter, and she is in love with Simhadri. Once a week, Simhadri visits a mentally challenged girl called Indu, and entertains her, where he provides money to her caretakers. When Varma and his wife discover Kasturi's wish to marry Simhadri, they decide to get married. He makes a formal announcement to officially adopt Simhadri. At this time, it is revealed that Simhadri is very close to Indu, and the alliance breaks off when Simhadri refuses to leave Indu (who is suspected to be his lover).

Meanwhile, two separate groups are in search of Simhadri. They find him at the banks of Godavari river, along with Indu. In the ensuing confrontation between one group of gangsters and Simhadri, Varma and his family are surprised to see that Simhadri, who used to be calm and composed, suddenly ruthlessly kills many goons without mercy. Meanwhile, Simhadri is helped by a second group, who call him Singhamalai Anna. Meanwhile, Indu gets injured. When Indu regains her senses, she remembers her past and stabs Simhadri with an iron pole. Simhadri is hospitalized in critical condition, and the leader of the second group, who was searching for Simhadri, explains Simhadri's past.

Past: Varma's oldest daughter Saraswati elopes with her lover, a Keralite named Aravind. After some harsh words and sadness over Varma's rejection of her choice to marry her love, they settle in Kerala. Learning of the sadness surrounding Varma and his wife, Simhadri takes up the job of uniting the family and visits Thiruvananthapuram, where he joins the medical and spiritual therapy spa operated by Saraswati and her family under the disguise of a patient. He finds that Indu, Varma's first granddaughter, convinces the separated family to reunite and ask for forgiveness. During this time, Saraswati is killed by a local goon Bala Nair for witnessing a homicide done by the latter. A gangster named Bhai Saab controls the mafia of Kerala.

Bala and Bhai belong to the same syndicate. Simhadri takes the law into his hands and eradicates Bala and his small gang in Kerala. The local Kerala people started calling him Singhamalai Anna. In the ensuing scenes, Simhadri finds himself developing into Singhamalai, eradicating Bhai Saab's network and illegal activities. Indu finds herself alone and constantly worrying about him. She proposes to her father that they should return to Andhra Pradesh because she cannot stand their home without her mother, and Simhadri ignores her now. Indu and Aravind decide to return to Visakhapatnam, where Simhadri receives a call that Indu's father is carrying a bomb in his briefcase.

Aravind is seen rushing to catch a moving train, and Indu is about to lend him a hand. Unable to warn him, Simhadri has two choices: to let Indu's father die so people on the train can live, or let the bomb kill everyone on board, including Indu and her father. Remembering his foster father's philosophy stating if many lives can be saved through sacrifice, there's no problem doing so, Simhadri chooses the first option. As soon as Aravind catches the train bar handle, Simhadri shoots him. Surprised at Simhadri's action, Indu jumps off the train to catch her falling father, and she gets hit her head against a pole, causing her amnesia and becoming mentally challenged.

Present: At the hospital, Bhai and his men arrive to finish off Simhadri, but Simhadri has gained consciousness, and with the help of his friends, cops, and family (now reunited, including Indu, who apologize for her actions), he takes down Bhai and his henchmen.

Pingalam and Ram Bhupal decide to marry off Simhadri by their choice, either Indu or Kasthuri. But Simhadri tells them that it is a very outdated matter, so they should hand it over to the almighty.

After the success of Student No.1 (2001), Rajamouli was initially supposed to direct a fantasy film with Kovelamudi Surya Prakash however the project was shelved due to high budget and lead actor's debut film Neetho (2002) became a failure.[5] Rajamouli narrated the subject of Simhadri to VMC Combines who agreed to produce the film. The film was supposed to be made with the pair of B. Gopal and Balakrishna, which was dropped.[5]

Writer V. Vijayendra Prasad stated that he got the idea for the story while re-watching Moondram Pirai (1982).[6]

Soundtrack was composed by M. M. Keeravani. He revealed that Rajamouli mostly selected tunes which are already used or those rejected by other directors. The song "Ammaina Nannaina" was originally used for the film Kishkinda Kanda (1994) and the song "Chinnadamme" for the film Samarpana (1992). "Singhamalai" was used for the film People's Encounter (1991). Keeravani acknowledged that the tune of "Chiraaku Anuko" was inspired by Cotton Eye Joe.[7][8]

After the success, the film was subsequently remade in Tamil as Gajendra (2004) with Vijayakanth by Suresh Krissna.[14] The film was also remade in Kannada as Kanteerava (2012) with Duniya Vijay.

• Simhadri at IMDb