Chalo


Chalo is a 2018 Indian Telugu-language action romantic comedy drama film written and directed by director Venky Kudumula marking his debut as a director. The film, produced by Usha Mulpuri on Ira Creations banner features Naga Shourya and Rashmika Mandanna. Mahati Swara Sagar composed the soundtrack and the background score for the film while Sai Sriram provided the cinematography and Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao did the editing for the film. The film was extensively shot in Hyderabad.
Released worldwide on 2 February 2018, the film became Naga Shourya's highest-grosser in India and overseas.

Plot

The story starts with a man entering a jail cell. The inmate tells another inmate his history. He is the father of Hari, a young man who loves fights. When the boy was little and would cry, the father would then let him beat someone, making him happy. As he became older, he often fought. The police warn Hari's father that if he fights with anyone, they will punish him. Fed up with his behavior, they decide to send Hari to Tiruppuram, a village on the border between Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu where there are daily fights between Telugu and Tamil people, upon the insistence of Hari's father's friend. They immediately send Hari there by lying to him that they received a transfer to Tiruppuram. Upon entering Tiruppuram, he is lured into the Tamil faction and escapes unscathed to the Telugu side, and befriends auto driver Bose, who explains the scenario in the village.
Hari's new college is governed by the authoritarian principal Paramatma, who shields the college from the village feud, and discourages fights. After entering his college, where he is enrolled, he goes to the shed behind the college to participate in the fight between Telugu and Tamil people hosted by the canteen owner, where he accidentally helps the Tamil people win upon seeing Karthika, a Tamil girl and is smitten with her. He later befriends Sathya, a Tamil student. Hari repeatedly tries to impress her, but she remains unimpressed. Finally, after he changes her mindset, she falls in love with him, but she needs the approval of her father Veeramuthu, the leader of the Tamil faction. A mix-up of names results in him seeking the approval of Keshava, the leader of the Telugu faction and Veeramuthu's sworn nemesis. The village is governed by the zamindar, who acts as the negotiator between them. Hari accidentally helps Keshava humiliate Veeramuthu, earning the latter's ire.
Upon learning about Karthika's love with Hari, Veeramuthu fixes her marriage with Param, an NRI. To get into the good books of Veeramuthu, Hari humiliates Keshava by making him set up posters of Hari and Karthika together. Later, Paramatma learns about the illegal fights taking place behind the college from Hari. Feeling betrayed, he attempts to resign, but the students, having been reformed, ask for forgiveness.
Hari's parents, having learnt of the situation from Param, arrive to help him. To learn about the feud's past, Hari, Sathya and Paramatma kidnap all the elderly people from the village and learn that the village was once cohesive and the village heads, Veeramthu Sr. and Rao Bahadur Keshava were friends. In 1953, central government officials came to finalize the process of dividing Tiruppuram for the creation of Andhra Pradesh, but it was rejected by both the heads. While celebrating their victory in the night, both Veeramuthu Sr. and Rao Bahadur came out of their guest house injured, accusing each other of betrayal, and provoke the villagers into fighting against each other, and the border was created the next day itself after agitated people from both sides signed the orders following their deaths.
At the night of Karthika's marriage, Hari learns that half of the assets of Veeramuthu Sr. and Rao Bahadur were transferred to the zamindar, and confronts him, where he learns that both Veeramuthu Sr. and Rao Bahadur had an affair with Diana, a British woman, and that she died after being accidentally pushed by Rao Bahadur, and they stabbed each other in the scuffle. Diana's son, the zamindar, witnessed their deaths and withheld the truth for several years. Veeramuthu and Keshava, having been alerted, arrive there and learn the ugly truth about their fathers from Hari, who demands that they settle their feud, and have Karthika marry him, threatening to expose their fathers' rivalry to the villagers. Constrained, they permanently settle the feud, becoming friends in the process, while Hari marries Karthika.

Cast

Music composed by Mahati Swara Sagar. Music released on Aditya Music Company.

Reception

The Times of India rated the film three out of five stars and stated "Despite the story of Chalo being somewhat a cliché, director Venky somehow cleverly manages to turn the tropes into a fun and interesting ride." Srivathsan Nadadhur of The Hindu wrote:"Chalo is a good showreel for Naga Shaurya; it’s within the commercial domain and also one where we see his range as an actor." Hemanth Kumar of Firstpost gave the film a rating of 3/5 and opined that "Chalo turns the concept of cross-border enmity into a hilarious premise that’s full of surprises."

Awards and nominations