Karthikeya (film)

Karthikeya is a 2014 Indian Telugu-language mystery thriller film written & directed by Chandoo Mondeti shot in Telugu language. 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.  Shekhar 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.

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 Visakhapatnam, Araku and Kumararama temple in Samarlakota. However, the temple shown in the film is the Udayarpalayam Siva temple near Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu. Also nearly 90% of the film was shot in and around Tamil Nadu. After few postponements, the film released on 24 October 2014 as a Diwali release to positive reviews from critics.

Plot

The film begins with the death of an official from the Endowments Department, who goes to Subramaniapuram to research more about the popular Subramanya Swamy temple in the village. Soon, we are told that anyone who either talks about the temple or even tries to know more about it is killed by a snake bite. And slowly, this fear turns into a legend which keeps everyone away from the temple for almost a year. Elsewhere, Karthik (Nikhil), a medical student who does not believe in super natural powers, falls in love with Valli (Swati); however, she keeps avoiding him every time he tries to get closer to her because of his father's reputation in Village. Meanwhile, Karthik and his friends are asked to go set up a medical camp in Subramaniapuram and Karthik is surprised to see that Valli is also part of the same camp as her Hometown. Soon, he gets entangled in the ongoing conspiracy surrounding the temple and rest of the story is about how he unravels the secret behind the series of mysterious deaths.

Cast
Nikhil Siddharth as Karthikeya
Swati Reddy as Valli
Tanikella Bharani as Valli's father
Rao Ramesh as Prudhvi Raj
Kishore as Rajesh
Tulasi as Karthikeya's mother
 Praveen as Karthikeya's friend
Shankar Melkote as Principal
Raja Ravindra

Production

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". 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.

Swati Reddy was signed as the lead actress considering her popularity in Tamil and also she was the lead actress in Swamy Ra Ra. N. Lingusamy bought the film's Tamil rights while a Malayalam dubbed version was planned. 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 Shekhar Chandra would compose the music. Then it was announced that majority of the film will be shot in Visakhapatnam, Araku and Kumararama temple in Samarlakota. The title and the film's logo were also unveiled there. Principal photography began on 5 July 2013.

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

Music 

Shekar Chandra composed the film's soundtrack and background score. The soundtrack of the Telugu version was launched at Hyderabad on 28 May 2014. The soundtrack of the Tamil version was launched at Chennai on 18 June 2014. Both the versions were marketed by Aditya Music. Reviewing the soundtrack The Times of India wrote "All in all, Shekhar Chandra tunes are youthful and fresh. The tunes can easily generate interest among music lovers" and rated the album 3 out of 5. 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."

Telugu Version

Tamil Version

Release 
The film was initially slated for a December 2013 release. However it was later postponed to on 1 August 2014. The satellite rights were sold to Gemini TV for an amount of . The film's release was delayed due to several reasons and 10 October 2014 was announced as the release date. 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. 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. 150 Additional screens were added from its second Friday.

Marketing 
A 90 seconds teaser was launched on 1 December 2013 at Hyderabad. The first look poster featuring Nikhil Siddharth and the temple was unveiled on 5 February 2014. The first look posters of Tamil version titled Karthikeyan were unveiled on 5 March 2014. On 18 October 2014 the making video of the film's posters was released. 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. Nikhil, Swati and Chandoo promoted the film on the talk show Ali Talkies hosted by comedian Ali.

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. There is sufficient humor and romance to keep the film balanced and the story is about the crime but about the mindset of the criminal who uses a clever mix of science and religion to plan a brilliant murder". 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. 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. 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". 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. 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. Oneindia Entertainment and IndiaGlitz called the film a one time watch and both rated it 3 out of 5.

Box Office 
Karthikeya got a brilliant opening at the worldwide box office on its first day. The film collected approximately  at the Indian box office in the first weekend of 3 days and  at USA box office taking its three-day total to  nett thus recovering more than 50% of its production cost. The film collected  in its first week at the Global Box office and entered profit zone. The film cashed in on the mixed response for Current Theega and managed to collect a total of  in 9 days at the Global box office. Despite new releases, the film stood strong by the end of its third weekend and grossed  in 17 days.

Awards and nominations

References

External links 
 

Category:Telugu-language films
Category:Indian films
Category:Directorial debut films
Category:Indian supernatural thriller films
Category:Films shot in Tamil Nadu
Category:Films shot in Andhra Pradesh