Karthikeya (film)

Karthikeya
Film poster
Directed by	Chandoo Mondeti
Produced by	Venkat Srinivas
Written by	Chandoo Mondeti
Starring	Nikhil Siddharth Swati Reddy Tanikella Bharani Rao Ramesh Jayaprakash
Music by	Sekhar Chandra
Cinematography	Karthik Ghattamaneni
Edited by	Karthika Srinivas
Production company	Magnus Cine Prime Pvt. Ltd.
Release dates	24 October 2014 (2014-10-24)
Running time	115 minutes
Country	India
Language	Telugu Tamil
Budget	60 million (US$950,000)[1]
Box office	200 million (US$3.2 million)(17 Days)[2]

Karthikeya is a 2014 bilingual supernatural thriller written & directed by Chandoo Mondeti shot in Telugu & Tamil languages simultaneously. It was produced by Venkat Srinivas on Magnus Cine Prime Pvt. Ltd. and featured Nikhil Siddharth, Swati Reddy, Tanikella Bharani and Rao Ramesh in important roles. Sekhar Chandra composed the film's music while Karthik Ghattamaneni and Karthika Srinivas were its cinematographer and editor respectively. The film revolves around a closed Kartikeya temple on the border of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and showcases the life of a curious medico Karthik and his nexus with the temple.^[3]

It was launched on 10 June 2013 at Hyderabad and its Principal photography began on 5 July 2013 which lasted till 21 February 2014. It was shot in Vishakhapatnam, Araku and Kumararama temple in Samarlakota.^[4][5][6] However, the temple shown in the film is the Udayarpalayam Shiva temple near Kumbakonam in Tamilnadu. Also nearly 50% of the film was shot in and around Tamil Nadu.^[7] After few postponements, the film released on 24 October 2014 as a Diwali release to positive reviews from critics.^[8][9]

Plot

Centuries ago, Sri Raja Keerthi Ravi Varma promises to build a huge temple for a swayambhu idol of Kartikeya if the latter saves his kingdom from drought. It regains normalcy after unexpected rains and Varma constructs a huge temple under the supervision of Vishvakarma. On the night of every Karthika Pournami, huge white light is emitted the temple since its origin and people believed it as Kartikeya's presence and blessings. Since then, Kartikeya was worshiped there on a grand scale till 2012. However the temple was closed due to few circumstances in 2013 and whoever tried to reopen it or know about it died mostly because of a snake bite or an accident making the temple a haunted place.

An endowment officer Shankar comes to know about the mystery and gets killed by a snake bite. ACP Sahadev who is investigating the case takes permission from endowment department chief Prudhvi Raj for completing the procedures. Later he receives a book which had Shankar's research on the temple's mystery. On a parallel note, Karthik is a medico and also a fearless atheist who is sent for a medical camp to Subramanyapuram where this temple is situated. He considers a BDS final year student Valli as his lucky charm who also happens to be a native of this place. The sarpanch Veerraju provides the accommodation at Dharmakartha Nilayam to the medicos group which is a very strange two floor building with a big statue of a five headed snake on its top shut since 2013. One night Karthik witnesses the death of Sahadev in an accident and gets Shankar's book there. He reads it and learns about the temple's myth but nothing about the mystery is written.

Valli's father Sastry is a religious person associated with the temple and he refuses to share anything regarding the temple with Karthik and also refuses Karthik's proposal to marry Valli whom he loved. When Karthik's family visits him, Sastry accepts his proposal to marry Valli and Karthik sends his family back next morning because of few haunting experiences last night. That day Karthik captures the snake which is trying to kill him. At the reptile department in his college, his professor explains to him, Valli and his friends that the snake is hypnotized and its target is to kill Karthik. He approaches Sastry and asks him to reveal the truth. It is known that the temple was shut because of untimely deaths in the temple because of a snake and will be closed permanently if Kartikeya does not prove his presence by emitting the light on Karthika pournami next year according to the village heads.

A Peetadhipathi at Thanjavur explains the mystery behind that huge light to Karthik and Sastry. During its construction phase Varma wanted this temple to have a unique feature as a gratitude to Kartikeya. Vishvakarma then hides Varma's precious and sacred marakathamani stone at the idol's feet and constructs the temple in such a way that moon rays on Karthika pournami night would fall on that stone which multiplies it by thousands of times thus emitting a huge light which was believed as Kartikeya's blessings. Karthik visits the temple on Karthika pournami night and there he finds that Prudhvi is the culprit. The light is emitted and the temple is reopened. Prudhvi confesses that he wanted to steal the stone and thus created a scenario of mysterious deaths by hypnotizing a snake.

Karthik is unhappy with Sastry crediting god for the temple's reopening as he solved the mystery. Sastry then says that not all the happenings were merely human acts or coincidences but also had god's interference which includes Karthik being rescued from the snake, Peetadhipathi speaking only with them among all, the old mad saint allowing only Karthik to enter the village initially etc. Karthik feels that his age is not enough to justify god's presence but for every prayer, there is a power and an answer. He sees his full name Karthikeya Kumaraswamy on his certificate at convocation, implying that he was Kartikeya's pawn in reopening the temple and saving the stone.

Cast

• Nikhil Siddharth as Karthikeya
• Swati Reddy as Valli
• Tanikella Bharani as Valli's father
• Rao Ramesh as Prudhvi Raj
• Kishore as Rajesh
• Tulasi
• Shankar Melkote as Principal

Production

Kumararama temple at Samarlakota, one of the places where the film was shot.

After Swamy Ra Ra, Nikhil Siddharth signed his next film directed by his friend Chandoo Mondeti in which he was supposed to play "a smart, well educated, suave young man studying MBBS". The film was announced as a Telugu-Tamil bilingual marking Nikhil's debut in Tamil cinema. The Telugu version was titled as Karthikeya while Tamil version was said to have a different title.^[10] He also revealed that his character in the film is very curious and a sort of Sherlock Holmes kind of person. For his role, Nikhil had to increase his weight by 10 kilos and did research for the role which involved spending time with medical students and doctors before the shooting and had to overcome the fear of injections and blood.^[11]

Swati Reddy was signed as the lead actress considering her popularity in Tamil and also she was the lead actress in Swamy Ra Ra.^[12] N. Lingusamy bought the film's Tamil rights while a Malayalam dubbed version was planned.^[10] The film was launched on 10 June 2013 in Hyderabad with N. Lingusamy, Sudheer Varma and Parasuram in attendance. It was known that Venkat Srinivas would produce this film on Magnus Cine Prime Pvt. Ltd. banner while Sekhar Chandra would compose the music. Then it was announced that majority of the film will be shot in Vishakhapatnam, Araku and Kumararama temple in Samarlakota.^[4] The title and the film's logo were also unveiled there.^[13] Principal photography began on 5 July 2013.^[14]

The film's second schedule was wrapped up by 29 August 2013 and scenes on the lead pair including two songs were shot.^[15] In early October 2014, the film was shot in and around Kumbakonam including a beautiful Subramanya Swamy temple there. By then 70% of the film's shoot was wrapped up.^[10] The film's final schedule commenced on 15 November 2013 on whose completion the film's shoot was expected to end.^[16] On 4 February 2014 a press release confirmed that the filming is complete except for one song.^[17] Filming ended nearly on 21 February 2014 and post production works began.^[6] CG works were in progress during mid-April 2014 and Tanikella Bharani said that he would be seen as Swati's father.^[18] In July 2014, it was known that nearly 50% of the film was shot in and around Tamil Nadu.^[7]

Music

Karthikeya
Soundtrack album To Karthikeya by Sekhar Chandra
Released	28 May 2014 (Telugu), 18 June 2014 (Tamil)
Recorded	2013 - 2014
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	18:52
Language	Telugu
Label	Aditya Music
Producer	Sekhar Chandra
Sekhar Chandra chronology
Dillunnodu (2014) Karthikeya (2014) Boochamma Boochadu (2014)

Sekhar Chandra composed the film's soundtrack and background score. The soundtrack of the Telugu version was launched at Hyderabad on 28 May 2014.^[19] The soundtrack of the Tamil version was launched at Chennai on 18 June 2014.^[20] Both the versions were marketed by Aditya Music. Reviewing the soundtrack The Times of India wrote "All in all, Sekhar Chandra tunes are youthful and fresh. The tunes can easily generate interest among music lovers" and rated the album 3 out of 5.^[21] IndiaGlitz wrote "Shekar Chandra's new album lives up to the expectations. Karthikeya, starring Swathi and Nikhil, has six songs in total and has a range of singers regaling us with their renditions. Ramajogayya Sastry and Krishna Chaitanya pen the songs and the lyrics are as good as the vocals."^[22]

Telugu Version

Tamil Version

Release

The film was initially slated for a December 2013 release.^[23] However it was later postponed to on 1 August 2014.^[24] The satellite rights were sold to Gemini TV for an amount of 15 million (US$240,000).^[25] The film's release was delayed due to several reasons and 10 October 2014 was announced as the release date.^[26] It was finally postponed to 24 October 2014 clashing with the Telugu dubbed versions of Poojai, Happy New Year, Ishq Wala Love and also with a Telugu film I Am In Love making it a Diwali release.^[8] The film released in 350 screens in its first week and 30-40 screens were added in early November 2014 while the shows in Prasads IMAX were increased to 10 from 3 with effect from 29 October 2014. Meanwhile Nikhil said that the release date of the Tamil version Karthikeyan will be announced soon.^[27] 150 Additional screens were added from its second Friday.^[28]

Marketing

A 90 seconds teaser was launched on 1 December 2013 at Hyderabad.^[29] The first look poster featuring Nikhil Siddharth and the temple was unveiled on 5 February 2014.^[30] The first look posters of Tamil version titled Karthikeyan were unveiled on 5 March 2014.^[31] On 18 October 2014 the making video of the film's posters was released.^[32] On 21 October 2014, Nikhil and the film's unit conducted a publicity tour in five towns viz. Guntur, Vijaywada, Eluru, Rajahmundry and Kakinada to paste the first release posters of the movie respectively.^[33] Nikhil, Swati and Chandoo promoted the film on the talk show Ali Talkies hosted by comedian Ali.^[34]

Reception

Critical reception

The film received generally positive reviews from critics. Y. Sunita Chowdary of The Hindu wrote "The narration is good, keeps the curiosity factor alive but it is not the sort that keeps us on the edge of our seats and taking us to nail-biting climaxes. The story offers little thrill. There is sufficient humor and romance to keep the film balanced but the story with the twist is not so much about the crime but about the mindset of the criminal who uses a clever mix of science and religion to plan a brilliant murder".^[35] Hemanth Kumar of The Times of India wrote "The good thing about the film is that it sticks to its storyline and everyone seems to know what they are doing. Karthikeya is one of the finer films made in the recent past and in times like these, that in itself is like a big compliment" and rated the film 3.5 out of 5.^[36] Suresh Kavirayani of Deccan Chronicle wrote "Despite its drawbacks ‘Karthikeya’ is a very refreshing film and Chandu Mondeti’s debut can be termed a success. It is a thriller with tight screenplay a new story. Whoever feels bored with the regular song-dance masala films, should watch this thriller for a change" and rated the film 3 out of 5.^[37] Sify wrote "Overall Karthikeya is different from regular commercial movies that dot the Telugu screen. Like we said it is a suspense thriller that mixes bhakti and rational thinking quite well to large extent and we do appreciate the producer and the actor Nikhil for attempting something novel".^[38] 123telugu stated "On the whole, Karthikeya is one of the most refreshing films in the recent past. Novel concept, gripping screenplay, Nikhil’s performance and cleverly designed suspense elements make this film different from others, and ends up as quite an engaging watch this weekend" and rated it 3.5 out of 5.^[39] Jeevi of Idlebrain.com wrote "Actor Nikhil and producer should be appreciated for agreeing to do a film that is different from regular Telugu movies. Supported by a neat screenplay and a bit of comedy, debutant director Chandoo Mondeti delivers a decent movie. Additional plus point of the movie is runtime. The minus points of the movie are slow-paced narration. The family drama and romance didn’t work well. On a whole, Karthikeya is a different yet interesting movie" and rated it 3.25 out of 5.^[40] Oneindia Entertainment and IndiaGlitz called the film a one time watch and both rated it 3 out of 5.^[41][42][43]

Box Office

Karthikeya got a brilliant opening at the worldwide box office on its first day.^[44] The film collected approximately 23.5 million (US$370,000) at the Indian box office in the first weekend of 3 days and 7.56 million (US$120,000) at USA box office taking its three day total to 31.0 million (US$490,000) nett thus recovering more than 50% of its production cost.^[1] The film collected 100 million (US$1.6 million) in its first week at the Global Box office and entered profit zone.^[45] The film cashed in on the mixed response for Current Theega and managed to collect a total of 150 million (US$2.4 million) in 9 days at the Global box office.^[28] Despite new releases, the film stood strong by the end of its third weekend and grossed 200 million (US$3.2 million) in 17 days.^[2]

References

External links

• Karthikeya at the Internet Movie Database