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Anand (2004 film)
Encyclopedia
Anand is a 2004 Telugu film that was directed, produced and written by Sekhar Kammula
. According to Kammula, the film means ..contentment, happiness. The lead roles are played by Raja
and Kamalinee Mukherjee
. The film was well received by critics and owing to its success at the box office
, it was remade in Tamil as Ninaithale
. The film's basic story was also chosen as the subject for Sekhar Kammula
's thesis
screenplay which was as a part of a requirement for his successful completion of his Masters
in Fine Arts at Howard University
.
The film begins with the death of the family of a young girl as a result of a character's drunken driving. The film sketches the path of the young girl growing up into a woman who lives her life independently and with self-esteem. The protagonist enters the woman's life and how they fall in love with each other forms the rest of the story.
The film went on to win the Nandi Awards
among several other prominent awards. If the award-winning Dollar Dreams (2000) set the tone, then Anand introduced the legacy of successful films made with simple stories. A noteworthy mention is of the film's soundtrack which was well appreciated for its soft melodies.
from Rupa (Kamalinee Mukherjee
). Rupa, who's working in an advertisement agency, is engaged to get married to Rahul (Anuj Gurwara
), Managing Director of the agency. There enter Anita (Satya Krishnan
), her neighbor and the kids who form an integral part of the humor quotient of the film. The kids, Samatha and Srikanth constantly quarrel with each other. Maamma (English: Grandma), who lives with Anita, takes care of Samatha and Srikanth. Along with Anita, Rupa hangs out with a group of friends Radha, Ram, Ali and Patel.
Rupa begins to pool up money for her marriage. One fine day, she gets to see the domineering nature of Rahul's mother and confides into Anita about her fears about the marriage. She decides to go ahead with the marriage assuming that Rahul's presence will eventually prevail over his mother's nature. Coincidentally, while they are speak at a temple, they notice a person who seems to be mentally challenged (Anand's father) ogling at them. When Rupa gives him the holy prasadam, he says "Thank you, Rupa". Shocked at how he knew Rupa's name, they quickly exit the temple.
Anand is a happy-go-lucky guy who returns from America. His mother insists on him getting married and on one humorous instance, Anand meets Venkatalakshmi. Unfortunately, Anand doesn't like her attitude towards the poor and this marriage proposal falls apart.
All seems well and the day for Rupa's marriage arrives. Incidentally, Anand and his father are also on the list of invitees. Just before the marriage, Rahul's mother creates a fuss about Rupa's marriage attire. Rupa retorts back and this enrages the lady. Rahul suggests Rupa to go according to his mother's wish for the moment and that, he shall take care of her later on. Rupa, in tears, agrees to go ahead and apologize to his mother. On her way, she overhears Rahul convincing his mom that after the marriage, she can exercise control over Rupa. In spite of this, she goes ahead and apologizes. But, Rahul's mother launches a verbal assault on her and embarrasses her. Rupa, unable to bear the humiliation, calls off the marriage. Anand happens to be a silent witness to this. He decides that she's the kind of girl he'd like to marry. Eventually, he moves into a portion of Rupa's house.
Rupa tries to recover while Rahul keeps coming back once in a while asking her to reconsider. Whereas, Anand settles down at his new home. He befriends Samatha and slowly starts making friends with the rest. On one occasion when Rupa's friends, Ali, Ram and Patel get into a fight with the local goons over a game, Anand manages to save them by calling the cops. This helps his attempts to gain friendship with them. Occasionally, Anand makes several attempts in speaking to Rupa, but she doesn't entertain him. Anita realizes that Anand likes Rupa and suggests him avenues to befriend Rupa.
Late one night, upon the death of Rahul's mother, Anand drives Rupa to Rahul's house. She comforts Rahul while Anand stays back for her. Rupa is thankful to Anand for being around and driving her back but, she realizes that he is jealous of Rahul. She slowly realizes that she began to like Anand. The story progresses and on Rupa's birthday, a drunken Rahul comes to Rupa's house and tries to sexually assault Rupa. Anand saves Rupa and throws Rahul out of the house. Anand gets angry at Rupa for bringing such a situation. He argues that she could have kept a safe distance from Rahul instead of exchanging regular pleasantries. Anand even brings her a birthday present and takes it back leaving behind a sad Rupa. Anand leaves the house and Rupa is dejected.
After a brief hiatus, Rupa's happiness sees no bounds when sees Anand at a party. She expresses her love for him and the both rejoice. Anand introduces his parents to Rupa. Anand's father, who's negligent driving killed Rupa's family, is introduced saying that he was rendered mentally challenged after that fateful night. Rupa is devastated to hear to this and ponders on her marriage. Eventually, she realizes that the past can be forgotten as fate had served punishment to the responsible. She embraces her love and all ends well.
Anish Kuruvilla, who played Anand's cousin in the film, was the executive producer for the film and Kammula's following film, Godavari
(2006).
and Bangalore
, but he could not get the appropriate one. On knowing about Kamalinee Mukherjee
, he subjected her to a screen test
. After the test, he selected her as the actress in the lead role. The choice of location was first thought as Ramoji Film City
and Nanakramguda in Hyderabad. So, these thoughts were quashed because the need was for a suitably big house and an outhouse situated adjacent to it. Since Kammula stayed in Padmarao Nagar, a prominent locality in Hyderabad, a location there made it all the more accessible for him.
. He was of the thought that this section of people were wrongly represented in films. He wanted to represent them appropriately and this was achieved with Anand.
Kammula sat with Veturi
for writing songs for the film. Kammula said that he could see thousands of expressions expressed as a couple of words in lyrics. Eventually, they ended up with six beautiful songs penned by Veturi. For Anand, Veturi took a month to come up with the lyrics as against his usual penchant of coming up with lyrics spontaneously.
Being a Bengali
, there was a need for someone to dub
Kamalinee Mukherjee
's voice for the film. This was provided by a well-known singer and television host, Sunitha. The voice of Sunitha blended so well with the screen presence of Kamalinee that she went on to win an award for it.
With most of the cast not well-versed in speaking Telugu
, Kammula faced challenges in their dialogue
delivery. It just happened that most of the cast couldn't speak Telugu. The crew had to face a slight loss of the performance owing to this fact. To overcome this handicap, the dialogues were altered slightly to improve the actors' diction.
film industry. Made with a modest budget of Rs. 15 million, Anand was a refreshing film of its time. Kammula wasn't sure of the outcome of the film and said "I knew that it would either be a huge hit or a huge flop". It evoked a decent response from the critics. Idlebrain.com, a popular entertainment website for the Indian audiences gave the film a 3.75/5. The website review goes on to recommend this film to the film-going audiences. On the other hand, IndiaGlitz, another popular film portal, said that the film was "good, but could have been better". However, ample praise has been poured into Kammula's abilities. The film released on the same day as Shankar Dada MBBS
released. Both these films went on to become box-office successes. Even though latter was a low budget film as compared to the former, Anand managed to give the producers of Shankar Dada MBBS a run for their money by drawing more crowds. It also figured among the top five grossers in the Telugu film industry for the year 2004. The success of the films in India being measured in the number of days the film has been screened in the theaters, Anand completed one such milestone. It completed 100 days of screening on 28 January 2005. Another website says that the film was realistic in its depiction and goes on to given instances in the film that do happen (unlike some of the fictitious and dreamy Indian films).
by the State Government
of Andhra Pradesh
in 2004. The awards that were won are Best Film (Silver Nandi), Best Director
, Best Actress in a Leading Role
, Best Actress in a Supporting Role
(Satya Krishnan), Best Child Artiste
(Bakhita) and Best Female Dubbing Artist
(Sunitha). It was also given the Best First Film Heroine, Best Male Singer and Best Editing
awards by a popular Telugu magazine, Santosham, in 2005. The film was thoroughly applauded for its story and it went on to win the Best Family Story Film and Best New Music Director as an appreciation for the lovely soundtracks from the film. At another prestigious award ceremony by MAA TV
, a popular Telugu
entertainment television channel, the film won the Best Director, Best Actress Debutant and Best Actress in a Supporting Role awards. Stepping out of the stereotype, according to Kammula, seemed to be the formula for success of the film.
Disc 1 contains the theatrical version of the film primarily with subtitles in English, both in Dolby Digital
5.1 and DTS. As an add-on, it also contains the Director's Cut, 35 minutes worth of deleted scenes. KAD
Disc 2 contains a trivia game about the film, the saga of the film, that is, from the film Dollar Dreams where it all began to conceiving Anand, raising of finances for the film, selection of the cast and location, dubbing, choice of the music director, lyricist, cinematographer and choreographer. It also has a brief informational biography about the director, actors, about the choice of the caption, the encountered pre-release blues, the day of release, the best scene from the film, favorite song, memorable moments during the film, the post release scenario and the Director's Cut. It also contains the 100 days celebrations of the film with Dr. Dasari Narayana Rao
's congratulatory speech. The film trailers are also included in this disc.
This film possibly is the first Telugu film to be released in a 2-Disc Special Edition DVD that also features the director's cut version of the film. KAD also won the best DVD award for this special edition.
of Indian songs, "all the songs but for one assume classical and Carnatic music
in it."
Sekhar Kammula
Sekhar Kammula is an award-winning Indian Film director, writer and producer from Telugu cinema.-Early life:Sekhar was schooled at St. Patrick's High School, Secunderabad. He completed his intermediate studies from St...
. According to Kammula, the film means ..contentment, happiness. The lead roles are played by Raja
Raja (actor)
Raja Abel is a Telugu film actor. He played the lead role in the Telugu movieAnand, which won 7 Nandi Awards in 2004.-Early life & Family:...
and Kamalinee Mukherjee
Kamalinee Mukherjee
Kamalinee Mukherjee is an Indian actress. She has predominantly appeared in Telugu films as well as in a few Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada language films....
. The film was well received by critics and owing to its success at the box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
, it was remade in Tamil as Ninaithale
Ninaithale
Ninaithale is a 2007 Tamil movie starring Suchindra and Nargis Bagheri in the lead roles. This movie is the remake of the Telugu blockbuster movie Anand. It is Suchindra's first Tamil movie as hero...
. The film's basic story was also chosen as the subject for Sekhar Kammula
Sekhar Kammula
Sekhar Kammula is an award-winning Indian Film director, writer and producer from Telugu cinema.-Early life:Sekhar was schooled at St. Patrick's High School, Secunderabad. He completed his intermediate studies from St...
's thesis
Thesis
A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
screenplay which was as a part of a requirement for his successful completion of his Masters
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in Fine Arts at Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
.
The film begins with the death of the family of a young girl as a result of a character's drunken driving. The film sketches the path of the young girl growing up into a woman who lives her life independently and with self-esteem. The protagonist enters the woman's life and how they fall in love with each other forms the rest of the story.
The film went on to win the Nandi Awards
Nandi Awards
The Nandi Awards is the most Prominent award ceremony for Telugu films, Telugu Theater & Television, presented annually in Andhra Pradesh, India. "Nandi" means "bull", the awards being named after the big granite bull at Lepakshi — a cultural and historical symbol of Andhra Pradesh.Nandi...
among several other prominent awards. If the award-winning Dollar Dreams (2000) set the tone, then Anand introduced the legacy of successful films made with simple stories. A noteworthy mention is of the film's soundtrack which was well appreciated for its soft melodies.
Plot
The film opens with a young Rupa studying for her examinations while her parents and brother get ready to leave for a marriage function. On their way to the function, they meet with a fatal accident owing to drunken driving by Anand's father, Gopalan. The scene shifts to 8 years later where young children are learning Carnatic musicCarnatic music
Carnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...
from Rupa (Kamalinee Mukherjee
Kamalinee Mukherjee
Kamalinee Mukherjee is an Indian actress. She has predominantly appeared in Telugu films as well as in a few Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada language films....
). Rupa, who's working in an advertisement agency, is engaged to get married to Rahul (Anuj Gurwara
Anuj gurwara
Anuj Gurwara is a Filmfare Award winning Indian playback singer, radio jockey, actor, voice-over artist and master of ceremonies. He is most popularly known as the singer of the popular song "Panchadara Bomma" from Magadheera....
), Managing Director of the agency. There enter Anita (Satya Krishnan
Satya Krishnan
Satya Krishnan is an Indian actress, who has predominantly appeared in Telugu-language films. Mostly starring in supporting roles, she is probably best known for her performance as Anitha in the 2004 Sekhar Kammula-directed Telugu film Anand.-Career:...
), her neighbor and the kids who form an integral part of the humor quotient of the film. The kids, Samatha and Srikanth constantly quarrel with each other. Maamma (English: Grandma), who lives with Anita, takes care of Samatha and Srikanth. Along with Anita, Rupa hangs out with a group of friends Radha, Ram, Ali and Patel.
Rupa begins to pool up money for her marriage. One fine day, she gets to see the domineering nature of Rahul's mother and confides into Anita about her fears about the marriage. She decides to go ahead with the marriage assuming that Rahul's presence will eventually prevail over his mother's nature. Coincidentally, while they are speak at a temple, they notice a person who seems to be mentally challenged (Anand's father) ogling at them. When Rupa gives him the holy prasadam, he says "Thank you, Rupa". Shocked at how he knew Rupa's name, they quickly exit the temple.
Anand is a happy-go-lucky guy who returns from America. His mother insists on him getting married and on one humorous instance, Anand meets Venkatalakshmi. Unfortunately, Anand doesn't like her attitude towards the poor and this marriage proposal falls apart.
All seems well and the day for Rupa's marriage arrives. Incidentally, Anand and his father are also on the list of invitees. Just before the marriage, Rahul's mother creates a fuss about Rupa's marriage attire. Rupa retorts back and this enrages the lady. Rahul suggests Rupa to go according to his mother's wish for the moment and that, he shall take care of her later on. Rupa, in tears, agrees to go ahead and apologize to his mother. On her way, she overhears Rahul convincing his mom that after the marriage, she can exercise control over Rupa. In spite of this, she goes ahead and apologizes. But, Rahul's mother launches a verbal assault on her and embarrasses her. Rupa, unable to bear the humiliation, calls off the marriage. Anand happens to be a silent witness to this. He decides that she's the kind of girl he'd like to marry. Eventually, he moves into a portion of Rupa's house.
Rupa tries to recover while Rahul keeps coming back once in a while asking her to reconsider. Whereas, Anand settles down at his new home. He befriends Samatha and slowly starts making friends with the rest. On one occasion when Rupa's friends, Ali, Ram and Patel get into a fight with the local goons over a game, Anand manages to save them by calling the cops. This helps his attempts to gain friendship with them. Occasionally, Anand makes several attempts in speaking to Rupa, but she doesn't entertain him. Anita realizes that Anand likes Rupa and suggests him avenues to befriend Rupa.
Late one night, upon the death of Rahul's mother, Anand drives Rupa to Rahul's house. She comforts Rahul while Anand stays back for her. Rupa is thankful to Anand for being around and driving her back but, she realizes that he is jealous of Rahul. She slowly realizes that she began to like Anand. The story progresses and on Rupa's birthday, a drunken Rahul comes to Rupa's house and tries to sexually assault Rupa. Anand saves Rupa and throws Rahul out of the house. Anand gets angry at Rupa for bringing such a situation. He argues that she could have kept a safe distance from Rahul instead of exchanging regular pleasantries. Anand even brings her a birthday present and takes it back leaving behind a sad Rupa. Anand leaves the house and Rupa is dejected.
After a brief hiatus, Rupa's happiness sees no bounds when sees Anand at a party. She expresses her love for him and the both rejoice. Anand introduces his parents to Rupa. Anand's father, who's negligent driving killed Rupa's family, is introduced saying that he was rendered mentally challenged after that fateful night. Rupa is devastated to hear to this and ponders on her marriage. Eventually, she realizes that the past can be forgotten as fate had served punishment to the responsible. She embraces her love and all ends well.
Cast
- RajaRaja (actor)Raja Abel is a Telugu film actor. He played the lead role in the Telugu movieAnand, which won 7 Nandi Awards in 2004.-Early life & Family:...
as Anand. A next door guy who represents the innocence of love and how he goes about marrying his love. - Kamalinee MukherjeeKamalinee MukherjeeKamalinee Mukherjee is an Indian actress. She has predominantly appeared in Telugu films as well as in a few Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada language films....
as Rupa. The love interest for Anand. The character showcases the independent Indian woman with self-esteem. - Satya KrishnanSatya KrishnanSatya Krishnan is an Indian actress, who has predominantly appeared in Telugu-language films. Mostly starring in supporting roles, she is probably best known for her performance as Anitha in the 2004 Sekhar Kammula-directed Telugu film Anand.-Career:...
as Anita. Plays the friend of Rupa first and then Anand. A very cool woman with funny overtones. - Anish Kuruvilla as Anand's cousin. Always to Anand's rescue whenever Anand is dejected or in need.
- Anuj GurwaraAnuj gurwaraAnuj Gurwara is a Filmfare Award winning Indian playback singer, radio jockey, actor, voice-over artist and master of ceremonies. He is most popularly known as the singer of the popular song "Panchadara Bomma" from Magadheera....
as Rahul. Initially plays the fiancé of Rupa and pursues her even after their engagement is called off. - Bakhita Francis as Samatha. Naughty little girl who loves to eat toothpaste. At her angry best when she sees Srikanth.
Financing
After Sekhar Kammula's first venture, Dollar Dreams (2000), he began meeting producers with his stories. When he initially told them a story, they felt that it was too simple. Then, he began giving them a bound script of Anand. Unfortunately, none came forward to produce it. Upon someone's suggestion, Kammula approached National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) and they came forward to fund a part of the project. This set a precedent because it was the first time that NFDC entered into commercial Telugu cinema.Anish Kuruvilla, who played Anand's cousin in the film, was the executive producer for the film and Kammula's following film, Godavari
Godavari (film)
Godavari is a 2006 Telugu musical, romantic film that was written and directed by Sekhar Kammula. G.V.G. Raju produced the film. Sumanth and Kamalinee Mukherjee played the lead roles. The film was a success at box office in addition to receiving several Nandi and Filmfare awards. Music of the film...
(2006).
Casting and locations
Kammula preferred actors who suit the roles than writing characters for established actors. Hence, the choice of the cast were non-established actors. The search process lasted 3 months. The casting for Raja was simple. Kammula wanted someone without melodrama in acting and it just came as a plus when Raja appreciated Kammula's directorial abilities. The choice for an actress made Kammula visit MumbaiMumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
and Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
, but he could not get the appropriate one. On knowing about Kamalinee Mukherjee
Kamalinee Mukherjee
Kamalinee Mukherjee is an Indian actress. She has predominantly appeared in Telugu films as well as in a few Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada language films....
, he subjected her to a screen test
Screen test
A screen test is a method of determining the suitability of an actor or actress for performing on film and/or in a particular role. The performer is generally given a scene, or selected lines and actions, and instructed to perform in front of a camera to see if they are suitable...
. After the test, he selected her as the actress in the lead role. The choice of location was first thought as Ramoji Film City
Ramoji Film City
Ramoji Film City is one of the world’s largest integrated film studio complexes at over of land, situated in India near Hayathnagar and Peddamberpet on Hyderabad. It is also a popular tourism and recreation centre, containing both natural and artificial attractions including an amusement park...
and Nanakramguda in Hyderabad. So, these thoughts were quashed because the need was for a suitably big house and an outhouse situated adjacent to it. Since Kammula stayed in Padmarao Nagar, a prominent locality in Hyderabad, a location there made it all the more accessible for him.
Miscellaneous
Kammula's primary inspiration came from the Indian middle classMiddle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
. He was of the thought that this section of people were wrongly represented in films. He wanted to represent them appropriately and this was achieved with Anand.
Kammula sat with Veturi
Veturi
Veturi Sundararama Murthy , popularly known as Veturi, was a Telugu writer mostly popular for his film songs. His career in the Telugu film industry spanned more than four decades.-Early life:...
for writing songs for the film. Kammula said that he could see thousands of expressions expressed as a couple of words in lyrics. Eventually, they ended up with six beautiful songs penned by Veturi. For Anand, Veturi took a month to come up with the lyrics as against his usual penchant of coming up with lyrics spontaneously.
Being a Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
, there was a need for someone to dub
Dubbing (filmmaking)
Dubbing is the post-production process of recording and replacing voices on a motion picture or television soundtrack subsequent to the original shooting. The term most commonly refers to the substitution of the voices of the actors shown on the screen by those of different performers, who may be...
Kamalinee Mukherjee
Kamalinee Mukherjee
Kamalinee Mukherjee is an Indian actress. She has predominantly appeared in Telugu films as well as in a few Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada language films....
's voice for the film. This was provided by a well-known singer and television host, Sunitha. The voice of Sunitha blended so well with the screen presence of Kamalinee that she went on to win an award for it.
With most of the cast not well-versed in speaking Telugu
Telugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
, Kammula faced challenges in their dialogue
Dialogue
Dialogue is a literary and theatrical form consisting of a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people....
delivery. It just happened that most of the cast couldn't speak Telugu. The crew had to face a slight loss of the performance owing to this fact. To overcome this handicap, the dialogues were altered slightly to improve the actors' diction.
Critical acclaim and reviews
Anand had a relatively low-profile release unlike the huge banner releases of the TeluguTelugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
film industry. Made with a modest budget of Rs. 15 million, Anand was a refreshing film of its time. Kammula wasn't sure of the outcome of the film and said "I knew that it would either be a huge hit or a huge flop". It evoked a decent response from the critics. Idlebrain.com, a popular entertainment website for the Indian audiences gave the film a 3.75/5. The website review goes on to recommend this film to the film-going audiences. On the other hand, IndiaGlitz, another popular film portal, said that the film was "good, but could have been better". However, ample praise has been poured into Kammula's abilities. The film released on the same day as Shankar Dada MBBS
Shankar Dada MBBS
Shankar Dada MBBS is a 2004 Telugu film which is a remake of Hindi blockbuster Munnabhai MBBS. This film stars Chiranjeevi in the lead role and Paresh Rawal, Sonali Bendre, Girish Karnad, and Srikanth. in supporting roles. Jayanth C...
released. Both these films went on to become box-office successes. Even though latter was a low budget film as compared to the former, Anand managed to give the producers of Shankar Dada MBBS a run for their money by drawing more crowds. It also figured among the top five grossers in the Telugu film industry for the year 2004. The success of the films in India being measured in the number of days the film has been screened in the theaters, Anand completed one such milestone. It completed 100 days of screening on 28 January 2005. Another website says that the film was realistic in its depiction and goes on to given instances in the film that do happen (unlike some of the fictitious and dreamy Indian films).
Awards
The film was awarded with 6 Nandi AwardsNandi Awards
The Nandi Awards is the most Prominent award ceremony for Telugu films, Telugu Theater & Television, presented annually in Andhra Pradesh, India. "Nandi" means "bull", the awards being named after the big granite bull at Lepakshi — a cultural and historical symbol of Andhra Pradesh.Nandi...
by the State Government
State government
A state government is the government of a subnational entity in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or be subject to the direct control of the federal government...
of Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
in 2004. The awards that were won are Best Film (Silver Nandi), Best Director
Nandi Award for Best Director
The Nandi Award for Best Director winners:...
, Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nandi Award for Best Actress
The Nandi Award for Best Actress winners:-See also:* Nandi Awards* Cinema of Andhra Pradesh...
, Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nandi Award for Best Supporting Actress
The Nandi Award for Best Supporting Actress winners:...
(Satya Krishnan), Best Child Artiste
Nandi Award for Best Child Actress
The Nandi Award for Best Child Actress winners:...
(Bakhita) and Best Female Dubbing Artist
Nandi Award for Best Female Dubbing Artist
The Nandi Award for Best Female Dubbing Artist winners:...
(Sunitha). It was also given the Best First Film Heroine, Best Male Singer and Best Editing
Santosham Best Editing Award
The Santosham Best Editing Award is given by the Santosham Film magazine as part of its annual Santosham Film Awards for Telugu films.The award was first given in 2003. Here is a list of the award winners and the films for which they won....
awards by a popular Telugu magazine, Santosham, in 2005. The film was thoroughly applauded for its story and it went on to win the Best Family Story Film and Best New Music Director as an appreciation for the lovely soundtracks from the film. At another prestigious award ceremony by MAA TV
MAA TV
Maa TV is a Telugu-language television channel based in Hyderabad, India.MAA TV was founded by PENMETSA MURALI KRISHNAM RAJU.It is one of the leading Telugu-language TV channels in Andhra Pradesh, India....
, a popular Telugu
Telugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
entertainment television channel, the film won the Best Director, Best Actress Debutant and Best Actress in a Supporting Role awards. Stepping out of the stereotype, according to Kammula, seemed to be the formula for success of the film.
DVD
The DVD Release is a Special Edition 2 disc pack Released by KAD Entertainment.Disc 1 contains the theatrical version of the film primarily with subtitles in English, both in Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints...
5.1 and DTS. As an add-on, it also contains the Director's Cut, 35 minutes worth of deleted scenes. KAD
Disc 2 contains a trivia game about the film, the saga of the film, that is, from the film Dollar Dreams where it all began to conceiving Anand, raising of finances for the film, selection of the cast and location, dubbing, choice of the music director, lyricist, cinematographer and choreographer. It also has a brief informational biography about the director, actors, about the choice of the caption, the encountered pre-release blues, the day of release, the best scene from the film, favorite song, memorable moments during the film, the post release scenario and the Director's Cut. It also contains the 100 days celebrations of the film with Dr. Dasari Narayana Rao
Dasari Narayana Rao
Dr. Dasari Narayana Rao B.A. is a politician, film director, and film producer. Narayana Rao directed about 150 films, produced 53 films and worked in more than 250 films as a dialogue writer and as a lyricist.Beside graduating with a BA degree, he used to take part in scores of drama competitions...
's congratulatory speech. The film trailers are also included in this disc.
This film possibly is the first Telugu film to be released in a 2-Disc Special Edition DVD that also features the director's cut version of the film. KAD also won the best DVD award for this special edition.
Soundtrack
The film has six songs composed by K.M. Radha Krishnan, and according to one repositoryRepository (publishing)
A repository in publishing, and especially in academic publishing,is a real or virtual facility for the deposit of academic publications, such as academic journal articles....
of Indian songs, "all the songs but for one assume classical and Carnatic music
Carnatic music
Carnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...
in it."