| Rajshekar's Kalki | |
| Director: | Prasanth Varma |
| Producer: | C. Kalyan |
| Story: | Saitej Desharaj |
| Music: | Shravan Bharadwaj |
| Starring: | Rajasekhar Rahul Ramakrishna Adah Sharma Nandita Swetha Pujita Ponnada Siddhu Jonnalagadda |
| Cinematography: | Dasaradhi Sivendra |
| Editing: | Goutham Nerusu |
| Studio: | Happy Movies Shivani Shivathmika Movies White Lamb Talkies |
| Runtime: | 140 minutes |
| Country: | India |
| Language: | Telugu |
Rajshekar's Kalki is a 2019 Indian Telugu-language action thriller film directed by Prasanth Varma from a story written by Saitej Desharaj and produced by C. Kalyan. The film stars Rajasekhar, Rahul Ramakrishna, Adah Sharma, Nandita Swetha, Siddhu Jonnalagadda and Pujita Ponnada,[1] while Nassar, Ashutosh Rana, Jayaprakash, and Shatru play supporting roles. The music was composed by Shravan Bharadwaj with cinematography by Dasaradhi Sivendra and editing by Goutham Nrusu. The film released on 28 June 2019.
In 1983, Deva Dutta, a journalist from Hyderabad, investigates the history of Kollapur by interviewing a senior citizen. The story dates back to 1947, when the Nizam of Hyderabad, opposing the incorporation of Hyderabad into India, sent the Razakars to attack Hindu provinces, including Kollapur. During these conflicts, Raja Balakishan Rao, the benevolent ruler of Kollapur, was betrayed by his commander Narsappa and killed. After Hyderabad's accession to India in 1948, Narsappa aimed to gain power by contesting in the general elections. However, Raja Balakishan Rao's widow, Rani Ramachandramma, was persuaded by Raja Ratnam, a close confidant of the Raja, to enter the elections for the welfare of Kollapur. Rani Ramachandramma won and established several institutions, including schools and hospitals.
Taking advantage of Raja Ratnam's strained relationship with his son Perumaallu, Narsappa looted the treasury and set fire to the palace, leading to the presumed deaths of Rani Ramachandramma, Raja Ratnam, and the former's child. Narsappa then established his control over Kollapur and became an MLA, ruling with an iron fist.
In the present, a fire at a liquor store is discovered to have been set to kill Narsappa's kind-hearted brother, Sekhar Babu, whose charred body is found hanging from a tree. Narsappa, suspecting Perumaallu of the murder due to a recent fallout between them, begins a violent search for him. Kalki IPS is assigned to investigate Sekhar Babu's murder, with Dutta assisting him. They uncover that a previous murder attempt on Sekhar Babu, during the Bonalu festival with a poisoned arrow, was staged, and that the poison was extracted from a rare snake found in Nagulakona, a village recently destroyed by a suspicious fire. Kalki and Dutta visit the site and realize the fire was deliberately set to eliminate the villagers.
Meanwhile, Narsappa abducts a tribal girl named Palapitta, intending to make her his concubine. She delays her fate by making excuses. Kalki and Dutta also discover that Kalki was in a strained relationship with Padma, the head doctor at the local hospital, after he accidentally killed her father, who was sheltering Maoists.
As Kalki and Dutta continue their investigation, they learn about a love story between Sekhar Babu and Asima Khan, a Muslim graduate whose boating business was destroyed in a massacre blamed on her due to her religion. Asima and her father, Adv. Kabir Khan, had to flee after the massacre. Kabir reveals that there is an eyewitness to the massacre, a saint named Sambasivudu, who refuses to testify. Kalki and Dutta eventually realize that Sambasivudu is actually Raja Ratnam, who had survived the palace fire. They learn from Raja Ratnam that the village of Nagulakona was destroyed by Narsappa to facilitate his illegal sandalwood smuggling business.
Narsappa attempts to kill Asima, but Kalki rescues her and deduces that Sekhar Babu, who was involved in Narsappa's crimes, was not as innocent as the villagers believed. Kalki and Dutta confront the masked men involved in the crimes, and Sambasivudu is fatally wounded while protecting Perumaallu, his estranged son. Before dying, Sambasivudu reveals that the events were driven by karma.
Kalki apprehends the masked men, revealing them to be familiar figures in the village, and discovers that Narsappa was behind the destruction of Nagulakona and the massacre on the boats. Kalki arrests Narsappa, exposing Palapitta as an undercover cop. However, Perumaallu escapes and kills Narsappa, only to be fatally shot by Kalki.
In the aftermath, Asima reveals to Padma that Kalki was responsible for Sekhar Babu's death after discovering his involvement in the boating massacre. Dutta, overhearing this, realizes that Kalki was sent by the police department to eliminate Narsappa and Perumaallu for their crimes. He also uncovers that Kalki is the son of Rani Ramachandramma, who was presumed dead. The story concludes with Kalki, now aware of his true heritage, leaving the hospital with Padma, his mother, and his assistant, having fulfilled his destiny by avenging the injustices done to his family and village.
After the success of Awe (2018), Rajasekhar expressed interest to act under the direction of Prasanth Varma. Prasanth decided to do a commercial film as his second venture because he did not want to be typecasted.[2] The original story with twists was written by Saitej Desharaj in a web-series format, following which, Prasanth had to adapt the original story into a screenplay for the format of a feature film. This process took eight months to finish.
The soundtrack was composed by Shravan Bharadwaj.
Kalki opened to mixed reviews from the critics. The Times of India gave the film three out of five stars and stated that the film is "worth a watch" and although "the film isn't as suspenseful as they come, it still keeps things entertaining till the end".[3] Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu wrote "There's an element of surprise towards the end, but the journey towards it is tedious".[4] Hemanth Kumar of Firstpost wrote "Although Kalki finds its mojo in bits and pieces, it tries hard to whip up emotion where there's none, and ends up as a big bore".[5] 123Telugu wrote "On the whole, Kalki is an investigative thriller ".[6]