Acharya Movie Details:
Country | India |
Language | Telugu |
Dubbed in | Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada |
Genre | Action, Drama |
Release Date | April 29, 2022 |
OTT Release Date | May 20, 2022 |
Running Time | 2hr 34min |
Certificate | U/A |
Cast | Chiranjeevi Ram Charan Pooja Hegde Sonu Sood |
Directed by | Koratala Siva |
Written by | Koratala Siva |
Produced by | Niranjan Reddy Anvesh Reddy |
Cinematography by | Tirru |
Edited by | Naveen Nooli |
Music by | Mani Sharma |
Production Companies | Konidela Production Company Matinee Entertainment |
Distributor | Phars Film |
Budget | ₹140 crore |
Box Office Collection | ₹76 crore |
Acharya Movie Cast and Characters:
- Chiranjeevi as Comrade Acharya
- Ram Charan as Comrade Siddha
- Pooja Hegde as Neelambari
- Sonu Sood as Basava
- Jisshu Sengupta as Rathod
- Kishore as Basava’s aide
- Saurav Lokesh as Vikram, Rathod’s brother
- Nassar as Adanna
- Ajay as Vedanna
- Tanikella Bharani as Priest
- Vennela Kishore as Acharya’s disciple
- C. V. L. Narasimha Rao
- Banerjee as Comrade Bose
- Shatru as Khilla
- Ravi Prakash as Sivudu
- Pawan as Basava’s Henchmen
Storyline:
Acharya, a middle-aged Naxalite-turned-social reformer who launches a fight against the Endowments Department over misappropriation and embezzlement of temple funds and donations.
About Acharya Movie:
Acharya is a Telugu action drama film written and directed by Koratala Siva. Produced by Konidela Production Company and Matinee Entertainment, the film stars Chiranjeevi as the titular character alongside Ram Charan, Sonu Sood and Jisshu Sengupta. The film had music composed by Mani Sharma and cinematography by Tirru.
The film was launched on 8 October 2019 with the working title of #Chiru152 on Vijayadashami festival, being the first collaboration of Koratala Siva and Chiranjeevi.
Chiranjeevi accidentally revealed the title as Acharya during audio launch of the film O Pitta Katha in March 2020.
In January 2022, Asianet News reported that the film’s storyline is based on the Naxalite movement in Srikakulam district, led by poet and cultural activist Subbarao Panigrahi.
Trisha was cast as the lead but exited later, citing creative differences, and eventually was replaced by Kajal Aggarwal.
Reportedly, Mahesh Babu was offered the cameo role in the film. However, Chiranjeevi later confirmed his son Ram Charan for the role; Koratala adjusted the role to make it full-fledged. In an interview with Variety, Charan who plays Sidhha, said “It’s a 40-minute role, it’s pretty much the whole of the second half.”
Pooja Hegde was cast as Neelambari opposite Charan, has an extended cameo. Regina Cassandra was signed for a special song in March 2020. Mahesh Babu has given narration for this film.
Principal photography began in January 2020. Important portions were shot with Chiranjeevi and others at Ramoji Film City. The filming was going at a brisk pace until suspension in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Filming was resumed in November 2020, and Aggarwal joined the sets in December 2020 in Hyderabad. A temple town set spanning 20 acres was built for the film.
Charan joined the production in January 2021. The film team reached Rajahmundry the same month.
In March 2021, Pooja Hegde shot her portions with a montage song at a specially constructed set in Maredumilli.
Following her pregnancy in September 2021, Aggarwal requested the makers to complete her portions at the earliest. However, in April 2022, Koratala stated that Aggarwal’s scenes were cut from the final draft of the film as he felt that the role she played could not match her stature.
In August 2020, writer Rajesh Manduri alleged that Acharya was plagiarized from his script. He supposedly narrated the story to production house Mythri Movie Makers a few years ago which did not materialize. Mythri Movie Makers refuted the allegation, calling it a “gimmick.” Matinee Entertainment stated that any such claims were baseless, iterating that the story of Acharya belongs to Koratala. Koratala responded that his story had no resemblance to Manduri’s.
Acharya was released theatrically on 29 April 2022 and opened to generally mixed to negative reviews. It was a commercial failure, grossing ₹76 crore over a budget of ₹140 crore.
The satellite rights were acquired by Gemini TV while the digital distribution rights were acquired by Amazon Prime Video. The film premiered on Amazon Prime Video on 20 May 2022 in Telugu along with dubbed versions in Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada languages. While Hindi version later released on ZEE5 with subtitle.