Eega

Eega
Poster of Eega
Directed by	S. S. Rajamouli
Produced by	Sai Korrapati (Telugu & Hindi) Param V. Potluri (Tamil only)
Written by	S. S. Rajamouli
Starring	Sudeep Nani Samantha Ruth Prabhu
Music by	M. M. Keeravani
Cinematography	K. K. Senthil Kumar
Edited by	Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Production company	Varahi Chalana Chitram
Distributed by	Telugu:- Suresh Productions 14 Reels Entertainment [1] Tamil:- PVP Cinemas Hindi:- Reliance Entertainment
Release dates	6 July 2012 (2012-07-06)
Running time	134 minutes
Country	India
Language	Telugu Tamil
Budget	₹265 million (equivalent to ₹300 million or US$4.5 million in 2016)[2]
Box office	₹1.25 billion (equivalent to ₹1.4 billion or US$21 million in 2016)[3]

Eega (English: Fly) is a 2012 Indian fantasy film written and directed by S. S. Rajamouli and starring Sudeep, Samantha and Nani. The film was produced simultaneously in Telugu and Tamil (as Naan Ee) (Translation: I am a Fly). The film is presented by Daggubati Suresh Babu (Telugu version and Hindi dubbed) and Pearl V. Potluri (for Tamil version)^[4] The music of the film was composed by M. M. Keeravani. cinematography was handled by K. K. Senthil Kumar, edited by Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao, art direction by Ravinder Reddy and dialogues written by Janardhan Maharshi (for Telugu), Crazy Mohan (for Tamil) and Anuj Gurwara (Hindi dubbing only).

The live action animation and visual effects were supervised by Rahul Venugopal, Adel Adili, and Pete Draper of Makuta Effects.^[5][6][7] The Telugu version Eega and Tamil version titled Naan Ee with dubbed Malayalam version titled Eecha were released on 6 July 2012 with over 1200 prints, grossed ₹1.25 billion (US$18 million) worldwide. The film was subsequently dubbed into Hindi as Makkhi.^[8] As of December 2012, the film has been reported to be dubbed in Thai.^[9] A Chinese dub titled Kung Fu Housefly was also reported to have been planned as of June 2013.^[10]

The Telugu version was screened to critical acclaim at L'Étrange Film Festival.^[11][12][13] The Tamil version Naan Ee was screened at the 10th Chennai International Film Festival.^[14] The film has garnered the Best Feature Film in Telugu and the Best Special Effects at the 60th National Film Awards 2012.^[15][16] The Telugu version has also garnered awards for the Most Original Film, Best Special Effects, Best Comedy, Best Fights, Best Film to Watch with a Crowd, Best Editing, Best Villain and Best Hero at the 8th annual Toronto After Dark Film Festival.^[17]

The Telugu version was premiered in the Marché du Film section of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, the Panorama section of the 16th Shanghai International Film Festival, and Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival.^[18][19][20] The film has received Best art direction award at the Fantaspoa film festival of Brazil.^[21] Also it is nominated for six awards including Best film, Best Cinematographer, Best Special effects, Best Music Composer, Best Editor and Best supporting Actor for the Madrid International Film Festival.^[22]

Plot

Nani is a young man who specialises in making fireworks. He lives in a house opposite micro-artist Bindu, who runs Project 511, an NGO. Nani has been in love with Bindu for two years and has been constantly showing his love for her. Bindu too loves Nani but hides her love from him.

Sudeep is a multi-millionaire industrialist who is also a womaniser. He had even killed his wife for her money. One day, Bindu goes to Sudeep's office to see if he would like to donate money to her NGO. Sudeep sees Bindu and immediately lusts for her, and calls her into his office. Bindu, unaware of Sudeep's true intentions, tells him all about her NGO, he donates ₹1.5 million (equivalent to ₹1.7 million or US$25,000 in 2016) to it. Bindu thanks Sudeep, who invites her for lunch.

At the restaurant, Bindu sees Nani and his friends installing fireworks across the pool. Sudeep notices that Bindu keeps staring at Nani and becomes jealous. Later, when Sudeep and Bindu stop at a market, Nani also comes and walks with Bindu. Sudeep follows them the whole time. That night, Bindu works late and she needs an escort to go home, so she calls Nani who comes to her office and walks her home. At this point, Nani gives Bindu an idea to help finish a necklace she was working on and Bindu is finally ready to confess her love towards Nani. But just in front of Bindu's doorstep, and just after Nani drops her, Sudeep kidnaps him and takes him to a graveyard, where he beats him mercilessly. He tells Nani that he wants Bindu. Nani tells Sudeep that if he goes anywhere near Bindu, he will kill him. Enraged, Sudeep strangles Nani, right after Bindu tells Nani she loves him through a text and a phone call. Upon hearing that Bindu loves him, Nani dies. After his death, his soul comes out of Nani's body enters to a fly's body and is reincarnated.

After adapting to his new life, Nani comes across Sudeep, then recollects his past life and wants to take revenge on Sudeep. He keeps following Sudeep around, irritating him repeatedly. Meanwhile, Bindu is grieving the death of Nani, and Sudeep is still trying to make Bindu love him.

One day, Sudeep calls Bindu to her office and asks her to come to Delhi with him to meet the Education Minister, who is planning to nationally recognise Bindu's NGO; she agrees. Nani notices this and causes Sudeep to meet with an accident while he is driving to the airport. Sudeep, lying injured, sees Nani write the words "I will kill you". From that point, Sudeep becomes paranoid about the fly, and tries all means to ensure Nani does not enter his house.

The Fly protagonist

Later, Nani comes across Bindu, who is crying. Nani uses Bindu's tears on her desk to write out his name. He then shows Bindu that it was Sudeep who killed him, and that he was reborn as a fly. Bindu realises Sudeep's true nature and teams up with Nani the fly, using her skills as a micro artist to make Sudeep's life miserable. Bindu discreetly allows Nani to enter Sudeep's house, and Nani wreaks havoc on him, including burning all of his wealth. A terrified Sudeep then consults Tantra, a sorcerer, who tells him that Nani, whom he had killed, was reborn as a fly and is planning to kill him. Tantra performs a homa in Sudeep's house to kill Nani. But Nani escapes and causes a short circuit, leaving Tantra dead and Sudeep unconscious.

The next morning, Sudeep discovers that Bindu and Nani are working together to kill him. Enraged, Sudeep brings Bindu to his house and starts abusing her. He also clips Nani's wings and stabs him fatally. A dying Nani then sacrifices his life by jumping through a lighted matchstick, inflaming itself and entering a loaded cannon, which fires up and kills Sudeep.

Bindu, grieving the fly's death, makes a necklace using the only remainder of Nani the fly - its wing. While going to work, an eve-teaser abuses her, only for a fly to attack him. This fly is revealed to be Nani, again reborn to protect Bindu forever.

Cast

• Nani as Nani
• Samantha Ruth Prabhu as Bindu
• Sudeep as Sudeep
• Devadarshini as Bindu's sister-in-law
• Adithya Menon as Sudeep's friend
• Shekhar as Tantra
• Sivannarayana Naripeddi as Poojari
• Srinivasa Reddy as Sudeep's P.A.
• Thagubothu Ramesh (Telugu) / Santhanam (Tamil) as a Poottu Govindan (Cameo)
• Hamsa Nandini as Kala (Cameo)
• Crazy Mohan as a veterinary doctor (Cameo)
• Tapan Kulkarni as Naughty Bear

Production

S. S. Rajamouli has stated that the idea of a story of a housefly taking revenge on a human first took shape in his head around 15 years ago, when his father mentioned that as a joke. Rajamouli's father had even given him the idea of a 'weakling' character driven by anger and vengeance, But Rajamouli was not interested in making the film at the time because he knew that computer graphics were not that developed and the film would not be taken seriously. However, post 2010, the project was revived as a ₹400 million (US$5.9 million) budget venture.^[23][24]

Rajamouli decided to shoot the film simultaneously in Telugu as Eega and in Tamil as Naan Ee (his first straight Tamil film)^[23] and it was originally conceptualised as a "small experimental film", right after Rajamouli had completed the Telugu films Magadheera and Maryada Ramanna. Rajamouli had almost decided to shelve the film, but when he later felt that the story had "universal appeal", he developed the film to its "present form".^[25] Nani and Samantha were selected for the lead roles, while Kannada actor Sudeep was chosen to portray a negative role.^[26] James Floyd was originally announced as the cameraman but he was replaced by Rajamouli's norm cameraman K. K. Senthil Kumar.^[27]

The unit used a Scorpio Crane for the first time in the history of Telugu cinema. The climax portion was shot at Ramanaidu studios.^[28] Completion of first schedule led producer to arrange a party.^[29] A huge set was erected at the Saradhi Studios.^[30]

Release

The film was initially planned to be released in May 2012 but was delayed due to extensive CGI and VFX work.^[31] Release of the film was postponed again from 22 June 2012 to 6 July as the unit was reportedly striving hard for the quality of CG.^[32] The film was censored on 26 June 2012 and received an U/A rating by the Central Board of Film Certification for few smoking scenes which is considered integral to story.^[33][34] Telugu & Tamil version with dubbed Malayalam version were released on 6 July 2012 with over 1200 prints.^[35][36] Distribution rights were sold for ₹340 million.^[37] The film was released in Hindi as "Makkhi" on 12 October 2012.^[38]

Critical reception

Telugu

Eega opened to highly positive reviews, Jeevi from idlebrain.com gave it 4 out of 5 and wrote : "Rajamouli has taken Telugu cinema to national level with his concept of Eega. In my opinion, Eega is the best film in Rajamouli's career".^[39] Rajeev Masand from CNN IBN gave the movie 4 out of 5 stars. He says that "Few films are as wildly imaginative and as consistently entertaining...".^[40] Radhika Rajamani of Rediff rated it 4 out of 5 stating that Eega was "brilliant cinema".^[41] J Hurtado from Twitch Film described the film as the "best, most insane, most inventive film of the year".^[42]

Tamil

Naan Ee received mostly positive reviews. M. Suganth of The Times of India gave the film 4 out of 5 stars calling it a "bravura piece of commercial filmmaking that is an unqualified triumph in every aspect."^[43] Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu said, "Rajamouli's story-telling technique is his strength. And when narration is effective, the rest falls in place. With no big stars to bolster the promo campaigns, Rajamouli's track record (so far every film of his has been a hit) and the visual effects that the film promised perked up interest. And now the film lives up to the hype."^[44] Behindwoods rated it 3.5/5, noting that it was "high on entertainment quotient".^[45] Moviebuzz of Sify called the film "excellent".^[46] Rohit Ramachandran of Nowrunning.com rated it 3.5/5 stating that Naan Ee was a "brilliant spoof of everything Kollywood stands for. A truly enjoyable fest".^[47] Vivek Ramz of in.com rated it 3.5/5 and claimed that the film was "full-on entertainment guaranteed" and that Rajamouli had "succeeded in converting his dream into a near perfect commercial flick".^[48] Indiaglitz said "Forget logics, enjoy grandeur and get immersed in fantasy. And Naan Ee will make you fly in joy".^[49]

Leading Tamil actor Rajinikanth praised Rajamouli for his fantastic work,^[50] while also commending Sudeep's performance as a villain, saying that he had thought he was the best villain until he saw Sudeep in Naan Ee.^[51]

Box office

The film collected ₹170 million on its first day worldwide.^[52] Overall, the film has grossed about ₹1.15 billion worldwide as of 27 July 2012.^[53] This film had collected the total share of ₹570 million (US$8.4 million) in both Telugu and Tamil versions as of 8 August 2012.^[54] The film has completed 50 days on 24 August 2012.^[55] The film has grossed more than ₹1.25 billion as of 13 September 2012.^[3] The film has completed 100 days on 13 October 2012.^[56]

Home media

On 19 October 2012 Aditya Videos Released the DVD Special Edition of the film with 2 discs in NTSC Format, One the film and the other the Making of the film with a Purchase price of $14.99.^[57] The normal DVD Version was released on 22 October 2012 by Aditya Videos in NTSC Format with a purchase price of $9.99.^[58] The Blu-ray disc of the film was released by Aditya Videos on 29 October 2012 in NTSC Format with a purchase price of $24.99.^[59]

Awards and nominations

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film was composed by M. M. Keeravani. The audio was released on 30 March 2012 at Brahama Kumari's Academy in Gachibowli, Hyderabad. It was released through Vel Records, owned by M. M. Keeravani. Lyrics for the two songs were penned by Ramajogayya Sastry and remaining songs were written by M. M.Keeravani, Anantha Sreeram, Chaitanya Prasad. The Tamil soundtrack of the film was composed by M. M. Keeravani as well. The audio launch event took place on 1 April 2012 at Sathyam Cinemas. Music was unveiled by Surya, Karthi along with directors N. Linguswamy and Bala.^[72]

Behindwoods rated the album 3 out of 5, calling it "A nice compilation of numbers by Maragathamani" and said, "If the film delivers what is expected, then some of the songs will catch on in a big way, particularly the title song."^[73]

Telugu

Tamil

Hindi

Sequel

After the success of Eega, the makers of the film and team Rajamouli were reportedly considering the idea of making a sequel. Apparently, the idea came up during a recent meeting and a feasibility study is being conducted about the same. While the idea is still in a very early stage, both D.Suresh Babu and Sai Korrapati are said to be extremely pleased with the idea of a sequel.^[74]

References

Further reading

• Sangeetha Devi Dundoo (14 July 2012). "The art of small things". The Hindu. Retrieved 17 April 2013. 

External links

• Official website
• Eega at the Internet Movie Database