Arjun (2004 film)

Arjun

Movie Poster
Directed by Gunasekhar
Produced by Ramesh Babu
Written by Gunasekhar
Starring Mahesh Babu
Shriya Saran
Keerthi Reddy
Prakash Raj
Raja Abel
Music by Mani Sharma
Cinematography Sekhar V. Joseph
Edited by A. Sreekar Prasad
Release dates
  • 18 August 2004
Running time
 174 minutes
Country India
Language Telugu

Arjun is a 2004 Telugu, melodrama written and directed by Gunasekhar. The film starred Mahesh Babu, Shriya Saran, Keerthi Reddy, Raja Abel, Prakashraj, Saritha and Murali Mohan. Upon release the film became a moderate hit at the box office, with Mahesh babu receiving the Nandi Special Jury Award.

Plot

Arjun(Mahesh Babu) and his twin sister Meenakshi (Keerthi Reddy) finish college. During college days Meenakshi falls in love with her classmate, which she expresses later to her family when she is shown proposals from others. Arjun sets out to Madurai in Tamil Nadu where Uday is about to get married who also awaits for Meenakshi, to elope with. Arjun makes a dramatic appearance, with no apparent disapproval from the parents Meenakshi gets married to Uday. Meanwhile Arjun meets a girl, Shriya Saran who happens to be from Madurai too. After the marriage Uday's parents (Prakashraj, Saritha) secretly plan to kill Meenakshi as they had lost a chance to grab a millionaire's property by the arranged marriage. How Arjun meets the plans to kill his sister and saves each time is the crust of the story. In this film, the name of the character played by Mahesh Babu is not revealed till the end. The other roles call him with the name of the relation, but none call him Arjun, and this is revealed only at the end.

Cast

Shriya Saran was selected as lead heroine marking her first collaboration with Mahesh Babu.

Crew

Production

The film was produced by Mahesh's brother Ramesh. This was Mahesh's last film released before he tied the knot with Namratha Shirodhkar. On the other hand, this was the first movie (and the last as on July 2008) for Keerthi Reddy after her marriage. The film was launched at Padmalaya Studios in Hyderabad on 18 July 2003 to which the whole unit of the film attended. The Technical team, except for Art and Lyrics, were retained from Mahesh-Gunasekhar's previous film Okkadu. The Filming had a single schedule which started from 18 July itself.[1] Mahesh played a role similar to the one he played in Okkadu while Shriya Saran was roped in as the Heroine opposite him. Keerthi Reddy played the role of Mahesh's sister and paired with Raja in the film. Prakash Raj played the role of Bala Nayakar, the last heir of the Nayakar dynasty who were well known in the History of Madurai while Saritha made a comeback to Telugu Cinema after 16 years in the role of Andal, the wife of Nayakar. In an Interview, Saritha told that she felt that Mahesh Babu is cool and very friendly while she took it as a challenge to act with Prakash Raj.

The main attraction of the film was the colossal set of Madurai Meenakshi Temple created by art director Padma Sri Thotta Tharani. Its details were revealed on 29 September 2003 by the Production unit via a press meet. Thotta Tharani along with director and his team stayed in Madhuai Meenakshi Temple for 15 days. He drew his sketches to the minute details and replicated it in Hyderabad. The initial estimate of the Temple set cost was INR2.5 crores which was supposed to be built in 3 months. But, it took 6 months with over 500 workers constructing the set. The total cost of this set turned out to be INR4 crores. This set was constructed in 5 acre space of Padmalaya Studios near Gandipet. This set consist of Gaali Gopuram, Pond and Garbhagudi. The set had a life time of 3 years with resistance to all types of climatic conditions. Thotta Tharani used 90 tons of iron in the construction of this temple set for longevity. 90 tons of iron itself cost around 42 lakhs. Pond in the temple has a depth of 3 feet. It took 5 days of continuous filling using 5 motors to fill the water. The Gaali Gopuram is of 130 feet, which is equivalent to the original Gaali Gopuram at Madhurai temple. A set of temple priests from Madhuri came to this set and installed a replica idol of Meenakshi Amman in the Garbhagudi. This traditional installation took 8 hours (from 6 am to 2 pm). Gunasekhar Varma used 25 powerful generation sets for a song to be shot in the temple in night effect.

Another set for the exterior of Prakash Raj's house and the streets of Madurai were also created at Padmalaya studios of Gandipet. Shooting happened at Padmalaya Studios in these sets for 60 Days which was equivalent to 40% of the film's shoot. The song Madhura Madhura was shot in Day effect while Dum Dumaare was shot in Night Effect at Madurai Temple set.[2]

Soundtrack

Arjun
Soundtrack album To Arjun by Mani Sharma
Released 22 July 2004
Recorded 2004
Genre Feature film soundtrack
Language Telugu
Label Aditya Music
Producer Mani Sharma
Mani Sharma chronology

Yagnam
(2004)		 Arjun
(2004)		 Gudumba Shankar
(2004)

This film consists of 6 songs, all composed by Mani Sharma:

  1. "Okka Maata" - Singers : Shankar Mahadevan
  2. "Oh Cheli Nee Oyyarale" - Singers : Karthik, Chitra
  3. "Madhura Madhura" - Singers : Harini, Unnikrishnan
  4. "Raa Raa Rajakumara" - Singers : Udit Narayan, Swarnalatha
  5. "Aey Pilla" - Singers : S. P. B. Charan, Shreya Ghosal
  6. "Dum Dumare" - Singers : S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Chitra

References

  1. ↑ "Muhurat of 'Arjun'". idlebrain.com. 18 July 2003. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  2. ↑ "Arjun's Madhura Meenakhi Temple set". idlebrain.com. 29 September 2003. Retrieved 18 December 2013.

External links