Khaleja

Khaleja
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Trivikram Srinivas
Written by	Trivikram Srinivas
Produced by	Singanamala Ramesh Babu C. Kalyan S. Satya Rama Murthy
Starring	Mahesh Babu Anushka Shetty Prakash Raj
Cinematography	Yash Bhatt Sunil Patel
Edited by	A. Sreekar Prasad
Music by	Mani Sharma
Production company	Kanakaratna Movies
Distributed by	Geetha Arts
Release date	7 October 2010 (2010-10-07)
Running time	164 minutes
Country	India
Language	Telugu
Budget	₹30 crore[1]

Khaleja^[a] (transl. Courage)^[2] is a 2010 Indian Telugu-language action comedy film written and directed by Trivikram Srinivas. The film stars Mahesh Babu, Anushka and Prakash Raj, while Shafi, Sunil, Sameer Hasan, Amit Tiwari, Subbaraju, Tanikella Bharani, Brahmanandam and Ali play supporting roles. The plot follows Raju (Mahesh Babu), a cab driver who gets hailed as God in a remote village and ends up facing GK (Prakash Raj), a powerful industrialist, to save the village. The film deals with illegal-mining in India, and related environmental damage.^[3] It marks Babu's return as an actor after a three-year hiatus in his second collaboration with Trivikram after Athadu.

The film was released on 7 October 2010 to positive reviews from critics and audience alike but was declared a box office failure. Despite the debacle, the film won two Filmfare South awards for Best Male Playback Singer and Best Lyricist.^[4][5] Over the years the film has undergone re-evaluation and has achieved cult classic status as it was deemed ahead of its time in terms of story telling and technicality. The film was listed in the Film Companion's "25 Greatest Telugu Films of the Decade."^[6]

A remote village in Pali is struck by a mysterious plague that consumes many lives, leaving the villagers terrified and devastated. The village priest prophesies a savior and sends his assistant, Siddha, in pursuit of him.

Elsewhere in Hyderabad, Raju is a short-tempered taxi driver. He encounters a woman named Subhashini (Subbu), who is so careless she got into two car accidents with Raju and unintentionally got him harmed which put him in the hospital. Later, Raju drives two passengers and he witnesses them getting murdered. One of them falls of the building and lands on Raju's car which severely damages it. Consequently, his supervisor instructs him to deliver insurance money to one of the victim's families. He goes to Rajasthan and encounters Baabji, a journalist and they travel together.

Back in Hyderabad, Subbu goes on a date with the son of GK, a ruthless industrialist and they travel to an unknown location which later turns out to be Rajasthan. He unknowingly drops a condom pack and subbu sees it. She gets scared, runs away and encounters Raju and Baabji and decide to travel together. During the journey, Subbu gets careless again and accidentally injures Baabji by throwing rocks at his head twice. They go to the victims family's home and deliver the insurance money.

Baabji later abandons them stating he can't get hurt or worse get killed because of Subbu's carelessness and leaves in a car. Later, a gang of goons sent by GK ambush Raju and mortally wound him. After he fends off his attackers, Raju is found by Siddha under circumstances described in the priest's prophecy. Siddha rescues him and takes him back to the village.

After recovering, Raju is shocked to find out that he is revered by the villagers as a deity, and fails to convince them otherwise. Although he is initially uninterested in their problems, Raju is compelled by Siddha to help the villagers. Upon further investigation, he finds out that GK has been deliberately polluting the village's air and water to drive out its residents and extract precious ores called Iridium from their land afterwards. Iridium is more valuable than gold itself because it's used in rockets, satellites and nuclear weapons. He also learns that GK had ordered the hits on Raju's passengers, a geologist and a villager, and later on Raju because he witnessed the murders and want to prevent them from interfering with his plans.

GK confronts Raju in the village, kills Siddha, and threatens to massacre the villagers for uncovering his ploy. A furious Raju assaults GK's goons and amputates his hand. GK wanders off panicking and meets his death as prophesized, ending the village's calamity.

The soundtrack was composed by Mani Sharma. The music was released on 27 September 2010.^[7] The starcast of the movie, including Mahesh Babu, actress Anushka Shetty, music director Mani Sharma and director Trivikram Srinivas released the audio at Radio Mirchi FM radio station in the Hyderabad. Mahesh Babu's wife Namrata Shirodkar was also present. The album contains six songs and the lyrics are written by Ramajogayya Sastry and Sirivennela Sitaramasastri.^[5]

Sify rated 3 out of 5 explained "No doubt, Mahesh is the cynosure of the movie, shouldering the entire responsibility."^[3] MSN rated 3 out of 5 and described the film as "just an above average venture", commenting, "Mahesh Khaleja is worth a watch for Mahesh's strong screen presence and charisma. Mahesh carries off his role with elan and looks superb too. Anushka looks pretty but doesn't share a good on-screen chemistry with Mahesh. The first half of the film is dull. It does pick up pace in the second half but the narration is inconsistent and tedious. The climax is little better.^[8] Rediff gave a 3 out of 5 rating and noted "The duo of Mahesh-Trivikram delivers a product that is watchable, entertaining with good humour, couple of well-orchestrated action sequences and songs and with a bit to take home as well. It's Mahesh's show all the way, much to the delight of his fans. Mahesh is the soul of the movie, be it his dialogue delivery, his action, his dances or emotions, he is effortless.^[9]

CNN-IBN gave a mixed review stating "The movie is all about Mahesh Babu and he occupies almost every frame in the movie. Back after a gap of 4 years, Mahesh looks great with stylish costumes. The movie deals with a serious theme but director Trivikram Srinivas mixes it with a lot of unnecessary situational comedy which dilutes the intensity of the movie."^[10]

Filmfare Awards South

Won

• Best Lyricist – Telugu: Ramajogayya Sastry – "Sada Siva"
• Best Male Playback Singer – Telugu: Ramesh Vinayagam & N. C. Karunya – "Sada Siva"

Nominated

• Best Supporting Actor – Telugu – Shafi

Khaleja was released on 7 October 2010

Home media

Khaleja was available on Sun NXT^[11] and Amazon Prime Video

• Khaleja at IMDb