Yevadu
Yevadu is a 2014 Indian Telugu-language action thriller film co-written and directed by Vamsi Paidipally. The film stars Ram Charan, Allu Arjun, Shruti Haasan, Kajal Aggarwal and Amy Jackson, with Jayasudha, Sai Kumar, Rahul Dev and Brahmanandam play supporting roles. The film was produced by Dil Raju under the banner Sri Venkateswara Creations. Devi Sri Prasad composed the film's music, while Marthand K. Venkatesh was the film's editor. Vakkantham Vamsi co-wrote the film's script with Paidipally.
The core plot was partially inspired by John Woo's 1997 American film Face/Off, and revolves around two strangers, Satya and Charan. The film was made on a budget of 35 crore, and was officially launched on 9 December 2011. Principal photography began on 27 April 2012 and lasted until 22 July 2013. The majority of the film was shot in Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad, mostly in Ramoji Film City, while two songs were shot in Switzerland and Bangkok.
Yevadu was released on 12 January 2014 during the festival of Sankranthi after several delays. The film received positive reviews from critics, and was commercially successful grossing over ₹89 crore at the box office and collecting a distributor's share of ₹47.1 crore, becoming one of the highest grossing Telugu films of 2014 as well as one the highest-grossing Telugu films of all time at the time of its release.
Plot
Young couples Satya and Deepthi, living in Visakhapatnam, are in a threat, after a dreaded don named Veeru Bhai lusts Deepthi. Upon their parents' suggestion, Deepthi and Satya escape and board a bus to Hyderabad, but the bus is stopped unexpectedly and boarded by Veeru's right hand man Deva, Veeru's brother Ajay and his henchman Inspector Sravan. Deva slits Deepthi's throat and killed her in front of Satya, and fatally stabs Satya. Before the three leave, they set fire to the bus, leaving Satya to his death.However, Dr. Sailaja saves Satya by transplanting a new face, which bring a new life, along with a new face and skin. 10 months later, Satya awakes from his coma, which shocks him as he has a different face. Under the pseudonym as Ram, Satya returns to Visakhapatnam where he meets a model named Sruthi, whom Veeru lusts now. Befriending Sruthi, he takes advantage of his new unknown face, and lures Deva to a under-constructed apartment where Satya kills him. A photo of Deva is discovered by ACP Ashok Varma, which has been marked as 1.
Ram files a report on Deepthi with the police, stating that she has been missing for ten days. Since Sravan knows that Deepthi was killed ten months earlier, he becomes suspicious of Ram and follows him to a mall, where Satya kills him. During the investigation on Sravan's death, Ram presents himself to Varma as an eyewitness. When asked to provide a description of the killer, Ram describes his former face. Ram then manipulates Ajay to fall for Sruthi.
Ram sends some compromising pictures of Ajay and Sruthi to Veeru. Ram then convinces Ajay that the only way for him to be with Sruthi and free from Veeru's ire is to kill him, which would also allow Ajay to gain his brother's position. However, Veeru's henchmen kill Ajay and later Veeru gets killed by Ram after revealing his true identity. He apologizes to Sruthi for using her and departs from Visakhapatnam. On the way, a mysterious person named Raja attacks Satya, but is later killed. Suspecting that the attack might have something to do with his new face, Satya visits Dr. Sailaja. When they meet, Sailaja confesses that she has given Satya the face of her deceased son, Charan; she then goes on to explain the circumstances surrounding Charan's death.
Past: Charan is a happy-go-lucky rich graduate who hangs out with his friends and girlfriend Manju. One of his friends, Shashank, questions the local don, Dharma, regarding his illegal acquisition of lands by exploiting the neighbourhood. Threatened, Dharma kills Shashank, after which Charan begins to raise support among the local population to revolt against Dharma. Again threatened, Dharma approaches another one of Charan's friends, Sharath, promising to establish his political career if he kills Charan.
Charan and Sharath go to Visakhapatnam to attend a wedding. On their return, they board the same bus as Satya and Deepthi. When the bus was stopped, Sharath pulls a knife on Charan and the two engage in a fight. Veeru's men simultaneously enter the bus. Deepthi is killed inside the bus while Charan and Sharath's struggle has led them outside the bus, where Charan is stabbed to death. Charan's body is sent to Sailaja, who after observing Satya's urge to live decides to transplant her son's face onto Satya, rather than simple plastic surgery. Before Sailaja could inform Satya about Charan, Satya had left the hospital.
Present: Leaving Sailaja, Satya visits the neighbourhood, under the guise of Charan. After meeting the locals, he decides to avenge Charan's death. First, he meets Sharath in a political meeting, using the shock of Charan seemingly being alive, makes him kill Dharma. Satya makes the slum people follow Sharath to Dharma's house. Sharath stabs Dharma, who in turn kills Sharath. However, the villagers followed by Satya, teamup and kills Dharma. Later, Satya meets Manju as Charan.
Cast
Production
Development
wanted to produce a technically driven film and selected a script written by Vamsi Paidipally. Raju announced the project officially in early October 2011, as well as announcing that Ram Charan would star as the film's protagonist. The project would be produced under the banner Sri Venkateswara Creations, with the details, including its cast and crew, announced shortly thereafter. Before sharing the script with Charan, Paidipally worked on it for nearly two months, choosing the action genre after having directed family dramas like Brindavanam. Devi Sri Prasad was confirmed as the film's music director in early November 2011, marking his first collaboration with both Paidipally and Charan. The music sittings were held at Goa.The film's production was officially launched on 9 December 2011, in Hyderabad; the film's title was announced as Yevadu and a first look poster was unveiled on the same day. Paidipally based his screenplay from a story written by Vakkantham Vamsi. Anand Sai was the film's art director and completed his work by September 2013. Abburi Ravi contributed to the dialogues. C. Ram Prasad was the film's cinematographer, while Marthand K. Venkatesh was the film's editor.
Casting
was signed as the protagonist in the film in October 2011. Allu Arjun was cast for a crucial cameo appearance along with Kajal, in a role which would bring a twist in the film; the producers wanted an energetic and spirited actor in the part. Samantha Ruth Prabhu was selected to play the female lead to be paired with Charan, and was expected to join the production in October 2012. For the other pairing with Charan, in his alter-ego role, Amy Jackson was selected to play the role of Sruthi. This marked her debut in Telugu cinema, and she participated in various workshops to prepare herself for the role before joining the shoot. Jackson revealed that she was afraid to be seen as a glamorous young woman aiming to be an actress; she worked hard to get her diction right and called the workshop an orientation programme to get her used to the Telugu language. For her role, she practised yoga, functional training, and went for jogs in and around Bandra bandstand in Mumbai, before rejoining the film's sets in Hyderabad.Kajal Aggarwal was signed for a cameo appearance and was paired with Arjun. Her inclusion was in doubt due to scheduling conflicts, but she eventually accepted the role, calling it a short and sweet one. Shweta Bhardwaj was approached to perform an item number in early May 2012, which she confirmed the news at the time, but added that although she was approached, she was not officially cast in the film. Scarlett Mellish Wilson was selected for an item number, which was supposed to be her first in Telugu; However the film, Cameraman Gangatho Rambabu, was released earlier, making it her debut.
Samantha walked out of the project in mid-November 2012 due to creative differences. She was subsequently replaced by Shruti Haasan, who was reportedly paid a remuneration of 60 lakh, but her participation was delayed due to scheduling problems. P. Sai Kumar was signed as the main antagonist. Lyricist Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry's second son, Raja, was signed for a supporting role. Arjun's character in the film was reported to be severely injured in a fight and was to be presented as Charan after repeated plastic surgeries to his face. His character's name was revealed as Sathya, and it was speculated that he would be a police officer in the film. Murali Sharma was selected for a supporting role. Shashank and Prabhas Sreenu were seen in cameo roles.
Filming
began on 27 April 2012. Ram Charan was involved in two projects simultaneously, Yevadu and Zanjeer. After completing initial filming on Zanjeer, Charan joined the cast and crew of Yevadu on 8 May 2012, to shoot the item number, as well as scenes featuring him, Amy Jackson, and others. After this first phase of production, Charan was scheduled to go back to Bangkok to complete the filming schedule of Zanjeer, before rejoining the Yevadu production on 7 August 2012. Filming continued in Hyderabad until mid-September 2012 after which production moved to Visakhapatnam on 14 September 2012. By early October 2012, 40 percent of the film was completed, consisting mostly of the first half. Shruti Haasan joined the film's sets on 24 January 2013.After a short break, filming recommenced on 5 March 2013, and by the end of the month, 90 percent of the film's speaking sequences were completed. Several action sequences were shot at Ramoji Film City in mid April 2013, under the supervision of Peter Hein. By then, the portions containing Arjun and Aggarwal were almost complete. The film's team left for Switzerland on 20 May 2013, to film a song sequence. Charan and Haasan were on location in Zurich, Switzerland to film one of the songs, which was completed by 27 May 2013.
Primary filming recommenced on 29 May 2013, in Hyderabad, with Amy Jackson rejoining the production. The filming was expected to be wrapped up by 20 June 2013. In mid-June 2013, a song featuring Charan was shot at Keesara Stretch, Ramoji Film City. Later, a song choreographed by Shekhar, and featuring Charan and Haasan was shot at Annapurna 7 Acres Studio. Meanwhile, a song featuring Charan and Jackson was shot in Bangkok. The song Freedom which was choreographed by Johnny, was shot in early July 2013 at Ramoji Film City.
Principal photography came to an end on 22 July 2013 after the completion of Haasan's scenes. However, in mid-August 2013, some parts of the film were reportedly re-shot and new scenes were added, in an effort to speed up the pace of the film, after the completion of censor formalities.