K. Rishi Kumar is announced as the chief executive officer of Origin, a flourishing company based in United States of America. He brings his mother from India to stay with him. Nidhi, his colleague organizes a party to surprise him, which would be attended by his close childhood friend Kanna, who had not met him for a few years, professor Chandrashekar and college friends. The story flashes back.
Seven years ago, Rishi belonged to a middle-class nuclear family in Hyderabad; his father Satyanarayana, a clerk in a private corporation incurred debts as a result of his low earnings whose 'failure' caused Rishi to be not on good terms with him. Rishi secured admission to complete his post-graduation in IIET, an esteemed university situated in Vizag, and hence had to move. Rishi, his roommate Ravi Shankar, and Pooja, all of them being classmates became best friends. Ravi is the son of a poor farmer, whose innocent expectations about his son inspired and in reality, pressured him to aim at getting a well-earning job in America. Ajay, a classmate of theirs was envious of Rishi as the latter had surpassed him in studies while Pooja, by introducing Rishi to her typical Indian joint family expressed her feelings for him received a positive response. Ravi failed in the first semester examinations while Rishi secured the first rank in it. Ravi became depressed when he got two backlogs in the first semester examinations, but Rishi encouraged him to trust himself and get inspired from his father but not to feel bulldozed by it. During campus placements, Ravi secured a good job, making his father, girlfriend Pallavi and the latter's father, a good friend of Ravi's father delighted. Pooja rejected a job at Infosys to be with Rishi in the US as he had thrown an offer for his AI-operating system idea to Origin, which was accepted.
However, Rishi suggested that he and Pooja should put an end to their relationship mutually as he felt that she would become an obstacle to his career and said she was a burden in his heart, and hearing that, she left. When Ravi tries to apprehend Rishi to not break up with Pooja, it leads to a fallout between them. As the last semester examinations approached, Rishi was accused of stealing the question papers which was actually a conspiracy engineered by Ajay to stop him from attempting his exams. However, upon getting a clue that proved the allegation against Rishi wrong, the Police let go of him. After completing his examinations, Rishi moved to California and rose through the ranks becoming a leading executive in Origin. During his presentation about his project in New York City, Rishi learned that his father died in his sleep. Upon returning to India, he realized that his father loved him more than anything and missed him as Rishi barely spoke to him. Rishi remained distraught over not being able to talk to his father heartfully.
At present, Rishi inquires Chandrashekar about Ravi, post which the former discloses that Ravi was rusticated from the university as he had taken the blame for the allegation against Rishi to protect him that caused his father to commit suicide. Devastated and guilty and upon being advised by his mother, Rishi takes a long-term leave and flies to India with her and Kanna to take Ravi with him to the USA. He meets Ravi in his native village Ramavaram, protesting alone against a pipeline transport project that requires the demolition of the village among several other villages, some of which have already been demolished, making it the next immediate target. While Pallavi's father, the village's representative who doesn't want to leave the village but is helpless, tries negotiating fair prices for the land the villagers are supposed to leave, Ravi never wants the project to take place but receives no support for his protest. Rishi, realizing that Ravi would never go with him, decides to get him what he wants. He meets the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, who claims that he is helpless as one of the most influential businessmen, Vivek Mittal is handling the project.
Rishi meets Vivek, requesting him to exclude Ramavaram but he refuses to oblige. Rishi attracts the media by setting up an office in Ramavaram to manage his schedule and Pooja, a team leader in a reputed video gaming company is sent along with her colleague to Ramavaram to meet Rishi and negotiate a collaboration by making excuses. Rishi asks her and her colleague to stay in Ramavaram and work on her video game idea intending to reconcile but Pooja has no intentions of doing so as she was heartbroken already and stays there under compulsion at Ravi's house. When Rishi divulges to the media that he has set up his office for his friend, the media asks Ravi about his intentions behind refusing to go with Rishi. Ravi reveals his attachment to the native village inspiring several other villagers to take up an initiative to join the protest amassing great attention nationwide. Pallavi's father, who blames Ravi for his father's death is now against his relationship with Pallavi. Upon learning about this, Rishi talks to Pallavi's father making him aware of Ravi's sacrifice post which Pallavi's father decides to accept her relationship with Ravi. Due to this act of him, Pooja decides to reconcile with Rishi while several other villages join the protest.
Vivek, upon sensing trouble due to the protest, arrives at Ramavaram and out of ego, decides to quote a higher compensation attracting a group of people amongst the protestors. As a result, Ravi is stabbed by the henchmen of a neighbouring village's head who is bribed by Vivek, but Rishi rescues him from being murdered and he is hospitalized. Vivek, in an interview, accuses Rishi of demanding a share in the project from him and claims that as a result of his rejection, started making use of Ravi. He questions where Rishi was all these years and why Ravi is remembered when he is protesting. Pooja too suspects Rishi's intentions and blames him for Ravi's situation and says he has not changed a bit which broke his heart the most and he decided to leave the village. However, his mother encourages Rishi by revealing that his father was not a failure; he passed his UPSC examinations and got selected for the interview but was arrested for protesting in favor of suppressed farmers leading to him being disqualified but he never regretted or treated it as a failure because it was for a good cause. Rishi goes back to Ramavaram to finish what he started, and a farmer inspires him to cultivate. Rishi also leases lands to the farmers encouraging them to get into agriculture quoting a higher price than Vivek. Later, in a press meeting, Rishi delivers a heart-wrenching speech about how farmers are mistreated and taken advantage of leading to several suicides. The farmers realise the value of their lands and refuse to go with the pipeline project and Pooja reconciles with Rishi after seeing his speech. Ajay, who has now realized his mistake and is a leading bank official exposes Vivek's fraudulent intentions to evade debts behind initiating the project and acquiring the lands. As a consequence, the project is shelved, and Vivek is arrested by the Enforcement Directorate.
It's time for Rishi to go back to the USA for his job but he decides not to, realizing that his happiness lies in the village. He resigns as the CEO of Origin and resorts to getting into agriculture.
After successfully producing three films – Munna (2007), Brindavanam (2010) and Yevadu (2014) – Dil Raju announced his fourth collaboration with Vamshi Paidipally in early 2018, under Sri Venkateswara Creations. The film was launched under the tentative title #SSMB25, before the title Maharshi was confirmed on 9 August 2018.[11] Speaking to Hemanth Kumar of Firstpost about the script writing, Vamshi said "One of the toughest parts while writing the script was adding multiple layers to the protagonist's journey. We were quite clear that we weren’t going to tell a story. It had to be like a semi-biopic. We didn’t want to treat the character like a hero right from the beginning. It's about a character who becomes a hero in the end".[12]
Filming
After the script work was done for a long time, principal photography of the film began in June 2018. A brief first schedule of the filming took place in Hyderabad, Goa and Dehradun.[13] The team next headed to the United States for a two-month long schedule.[14][15] The major part of the film in the second schedule was shot in New York.[16] After a delay in the U.S. schedule, filming in the region was completed by November 2018.[17]
Soon, the team resumed the shoot in Hyderabad at Ramoji Film City, where a fictional village set was constructed.[18][19] Vamshi initially planned to shoot the film at a real village, but later decided to shoot it in a set, as they realised that controlling the crowd in real places is tough and risky.[20] It was reported that the set was constructed at a cost of ₹80 million (equivalent to ₹110 million or US$1.3 million in 2023).[21][22] The schedule lasted until the third week of December 2018. The team then took a brief break, with Mahesh Babu and his family going to Dubai for a short holiday.[23][24] Filming was resumed in the second week of January 2019.[25] The schedule took place in Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, and was completed within the same month.[26][27] The next schedule took place in February 2019.[28] In February Sri Venkateswara Creations announced that the filming would be completed by 15 March 2019, except for two songs.[29] However, the shooting of the film was wrapped up on 18 April 2019.[30]
The film's soundtrack album and background music were composed by Devi Sri Prasad.[31] All lyrics were written by Sri Mani.[32] The complete soundtrack album was released on 1 May 2019 at the film's pre-release event, where various music artistes performed the songs.[33]
Release
The film was originally scheduled to release on 25 April 2019.[34] On 6 March 2019, Dil Raju announced that the film would be postponed due to delay in the post-production work.[35][36] The film was released theatrically on 9 May 2019 in India and on 8 May 2019 across 2500 screens in the United States.[1][37][38][39] In Bengaluru, the film was released across 400 screens, thus becoming the first Telugu film to have a high screen count, of the time.[40]
The film was also dubbed and released in 2020 in Tamil as Ungalukkaga Oruvan,[41] in Kannada as Veera Maharshi[42] and in Malayalam.[43] The Hindi dubbed version was directly premiered on Goldmines TV channel on 16 June 2024.[44]
Distribution
The film's pre-release business, which includes theatrical, overseas, satellite, digital, music and dubbing rights, were sold for ₹1.5 billion (equivalent to ₹1.7 billion or US$20 million in 2023).[45] The worldwide theatrical rights of the film were sold for ₹1 billion (equivalent to ₹1.1 billion or US$13 million in 2023). The region-wise breakdown of the rights are: ₹240 million (US$2.9 million) (Nizam), ₹126 million (US$1.5 million) (ceded), ₹96 million (US$1.2 million) (Uttarandhra), ₹77 million (US$920,000) (Guntur), ₹72 million (US$860,000) (East Godavari), ₹60 million (US$720,000) (West Godavari), ₹60 million (US$720,000) (Krishna), ₹29 million (US$350,000) (Nellore), ₹83 million (US$990,000) (Karnataka), ₹17 million (US$200,000) (rest of India) and ₹140 million (US$1.7 million) (overseas).[46]
A 43-second video titled #MeetRishi was released on 9 August 2018, coinciding with Mahesh Babu's birthday.[50] The video revealed the character played by Babu in the film.[51] On 10 March 2019, Mahesh Babu shared a few behind-the-scenes pictures on the social media.[52][53] The official teaser of the film titled #JoinRishi was released on Ugadi, 6 April 2019.[54][55][56] To promote the film, a pre-release event was held on 1 May 2019, at People's Plaza, Necklace Road, Hyderabad.[33][57][58] The official trailer and complete audio album of the film were released at the event.[59][60][61] Various music artistes of the soundtrack album performed songs from the film.[62][63]Vijay Deverakonda and Venkatesh were the chief guests of the event.[64][65][66]
On 16 May 2019, an interactive event titled Maharshulatho Maharshi was held in Hyderabad, in which Paidipally and Babu had an interaction/interview with the farmers.[67][68] Later, a similar event titled Repati Maharshulatho Maharshi was held, in which both of them interacted with the school students of The Hyderabad Public School.[69] Eight days after the release, an event was held at Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, to celebrate the film's success.[70] The event, titled Maharshi Vijayotsavam, was held on 18 May 2019.[71][72] In June 2019, the event Celebrating Maharshi was held at Shilpakala Vedika, Hyderabad, to celebrate the film's 50 day run in 211 cinemas across India.[73][74]
Home media
The satellite rights of the film were purchased by Sun TV Network for ₹250 million (US$3.0 million), and the Telugu version was sold for Gemini TV for ₹165 million (US$2.0 million).[75] The film's Telugu version television premiere took place on Gemini TV on 6 October 2019, coinciding with Dussehra.[76]
Its premiere on television registered a target rating point (TRP) rating of 9.3,[77] whereas its fifth-time premiere on the channel registered a TRP rating of 10.28.[78] On an average, the TRP ratings of other premieres are also more than 4.[79][80]
The film's digital rights were acquired by Amazon Prime Video for ₹110 million (equivalent to ₹140 million or US$1.6 million in 2023),[81][82] and it premiered on 3 July 2019, 54 days after the film's theatrical release.[83] The digital and satellite rights of the Tamil and Kannada dubbed versions of the film were acquired by Star India. The Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam dubbed versions of the film premiered on Star Vijay, Star Suvarna and Zee Keralam respectively, on 18 October 2020.
Critical reception
Maharshi received mixed reviews from the critics who praised the cast performances, action sequences, technical aspects, plot and emotional quotient while criticising the predictable and lengthy narration.[84][8][85] Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu wrote, "At the heart of Maharshi is a story that could have been leveraged to make a compelling social drama that also traces the transformative journey of an ambitious man. But there’s a huge gap between what it could have been and what it is".[86]The Times of India's Neeshita Nyayapati gave a rating of 3 out of 5 and wrote that "Watch it not just for Mahesh Babu and Allari Naresh’s performances but also for the story, if you don’t mind all the bells and whistles it comes with. It might not be entertaining all through, thanks to the draggy bits, but its heart is in the right place".[87] Writing for Hindustan Times, Karthik Kumar opined "Maharshi is a problematic film with big ideas but it tugs at heartstrings. Take out the farming sub-plot, Maharshi would’ve been a tiresome watch in which Rishi just won’t shut up with his sermons on success".[88]Sify criticised the film's narration and duration. The reviewer felt that the film has predictable storyline, lacks any shred of originality, the second half is totally unsatisfied and the emotional core is not convincing.[89]Sakshi Post opined that acting performances of Babu and Naresh and the direction are the film's positives, while Devi's soundtrack and poor screenplay are the drawbacks of the film.[90]
News18 stated "Maharshi exudes a sense of comfort and happiness in the midst of the wreckage and targeting".[91]India Today gave 2.5 out of 5 stars stating "Maharshi has a meaty story in between several sub-plots. If only it was crisp and to the point. If only. Mahesh Babu's Maharshi is not about a business tycoon coming back to his motherland. He has a bigger purpose here".[92] Hemanth Kumar of Firstpost praised cinematography, performances of lead actors and film score, adding: "Maharshi is a well-intentioned drama and has some beautifully written sequences; however, it holds back on a lot of things it wants to say for so long that it makes you feel restless at times".[93] A critic of Deccan Chronicle too praised cinematography, performances of lead actors and film score, giving a rating of three-and-half out of five.[94] Gabbeta Ranjith Kumar of The Indian Express cited the film as "crowd pleaser", giving a final verdict – "Vamshi Paidipally handles an emotionally intense subject well. But, the director could have paid more attention to Maharshi’s run-time. He could have chopped two masala songs which act as speed bumps."[95]
Krishna Sripada of The News Minute gave a rating of 3 out of 5 and opined that the film is "strictly for the fans", writing that "Maharshi has plenty to keep the fans whistling. Naresh's character is well-written, and it is his role that offers the pivotal turning point in the movie. Which makes you wonder why he watches a big chunk of the climax from the sidelines, as if he were there only for emotion-capture, like the relative of a KBC contestant." He further wrote "Prakash Raj, Rao Ramesh and Tanikella Bharani - we have almost lost the art of making our character artists important in giving more and more space to the hero. I mean, come on, even Iron Man concedes space to others. Mahesh does these roles effortlessly and one wonders if there is a pattern behind three successive social-message-based, larger-than-life movies. A change, maybe? One for the actor in him, and not just to please the fans!".[96] Sankeertana Varma of Film Companion opined the same, stating, "Maharshi might just be a delightful movie for a Mahesh Babu fan—after all, it’s mostly him achieving this and that, and running to save people left and right—but for a fan of the movies, it offers nothing."[97]
The Quint also criticised film's weak narration, predictable storyline, while appreciated Vamshi's work and DSP's score composition. About Vamshi's work, the critic wrote "Like Vamshi Paidipalli’s previous film Oopiri, Maharshi oozes with the intense desire to share something of value with the audience. The message that farmers need to be valued. And that youngsters can achieve anything they set their mind to."[98] Murali Krishna CH of The New Indian Express called it "an overlong melodramatic journey," criticising its runtime. "[T]he journey of Mahesh Babu's Rishi is way too long and demands much patience on our part," he added. In contrast, a critic of The Free Press Journal rated the film four out of five, writing "Maharshi exudes a sense of comfort and happiness in the midst of the wreckage and targeting."[99]Business Standard too gave a rating of 4 out of 5, writing "The first-half with its quaint college is heartwarming without trying to be excessively cute. Mahesh Babu's transformative performance from arrogant conceit to conscientious farmer is arguably his best to date."[100]
Box office
On opening day, the film collected a gross collection of ₹590 million (US$7.1 million) worldwide. In the Telugu-speaking states of India, it collected a gross collection of ₹333 million (US$4.0 million)[101] and a distributors' share collection of ₹246 million (US$2.9 million).[102][103][104] On its opening day, the film collected a gross of $511,000 (₹3.57) at the United States box office,[105] AU$100,000 in Australia[106] and ₹2.3 million (US$28,000) in Chennai.[107] In its second day of release, the film earned a distributors' share of ₹325.7 million (US$3.9 million) in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.[108][109] In three days, the film collected a gross of $1,158,000 at the United States box office.[110]
In the first extended weekend (Thursday release), the film grossed ₹1 billion (US$12 million)[111] worldwide and entered the ₹1 Billion Club.[112][113] By the end of its first weekend, the film had earned a distributors' share collection of ₹34.5 million (US$410,000) in Bengaluru.[114] On the fifth day, it grossed over ₹60 million (US$720,000) in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, totalling ₹750 million (US$9.0 million) gross and ₹534.5 million (US$6.4 million) share in the region.[115] By the sixth day of its release, it had collected a gross of $1,500,000 in the United States, making it the sixth film to cross the mark in Babu's career.[116] In seven days, it grossed over ₹80 million (US$960,000) at the United Arab Emirates box office.[117] In 11 days, the film collected ₹727.9 million (US$8.7 million) in Telugu-speaking states (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana).[118] By the end of its theatrical run, the film had grossed ₹2 billion (US$24 million) worldwide,[9] while in the international market the film earned a gross collection of ₹250 million (US$3.0 million)[101] and a distributors' share collection of ₹125 million (US$1.5 million).[119]
