Nijam (transl. Truth) is a 2003 Indian Telugu-language action film written, directed and produced by Teja on Chitram Movies banner. The film stars Mahesh Babu, Rakshita, Gopichand, and Raasi, with music was composed by R. P. Patnaik. Babu and Rameshwari won the Nandi Awards in Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress categories respectively. It was remade in Odia as Arjuna and in Bangladesh as Top Leader.
Nijam | |
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Directed by | Teja |
Written by | Teja |
Produced by | Teja |
Starring | Mahesh Babu Rakshita Gopichand Raasi |
Cinematography | Sameer Reddy |
Edited by | Shankar |
Music by | R. P. Patnaik |
Production company | Chitram Movies |
Release date |
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Running time | 187 minutes |
Country | India |
Language | Telugu |
Sidda Reddy is a powerful mafia leader whose right hand is Devudu. Devudu has a lover named Malli. Reddy, who also likes Malli, takes her to his bed, which is not liked by Devudu. Eventually, Devudu kills Reddy and becomes the leader of the mafia gang. Venkateswarlu is a fire officer. In an incident, Devudu sets a marketplace on fire and Venkateswarlu rescues it with his firefighting, and at the same time, Venkateswarlu slaps Devudu, as he continues throwing kerosene at the marketplace. Devudu holds a grudge against Venkateswarlu and sends him to jail on a framed charge of the murder of Malli's brother Baddu. G. Seetaram, Venkateswarlu's son, tries to rescue his father from the jaws of the police. But in the process, everybody starts asking him for a bribe to do the work. At the end of the day, the police officer and Devudu kill Venkateswarlu. The rest of the story is about how Seetaram's mother takes revenge on the people responsible for the death of her husband with the help of her son Seetaram. The people involved in the crime of his father's death are killed one after the other by the mother and son in a planned and scientific manner. This film tells about an innocent boy, who, along with his mother undergoes injustice and also loses his father in this process. The mother in this situation plays the role of a trainer and guide to her son, making him strong physically and emotionally, to fight back.
Nijam | ||||
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Soundtrack album by | ||||
Released |
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Recorded | 2003 | |||
Genre | Soundtrack | |||
Length | 33:54 | |||
Label | Aditya Music | |||
Producer | R. P. Patnaik | |||
R. P. Patnaik chronology | ||||
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Music was composed by R. P. Patnaik. Lyrics were penned by Kula Shekar. Music was released on Aditya Music.
No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Chandamama Raave" | R. P. Patnaik, Usha | 3:39 |
2. | "Rathalu Rathalu" | R. P. Patnaik, Usha | 4:15 |
3. | "Neelo Unnadi" | R. P. Patnaik, Usha | 4:01 |
4. | "Chi Chi Ante" | R. P. Patnaik, Usha | 4:13 |
5. | "Dhandakam" | Gopichand, Gangadhara Sastry | 1:53 |
6. | "Ilage Ilage" | R. P. Patnaik, Usha | 3:54 |
7. | "Kakulu Durani" | R. P. Patnaik, Ravi Varma | 1:48 |
8. | "Abhimanyudu" | Group Song | 1:52 |
9. | "Chara Chara" | Usha, Murthy | 4:04 |
10. | "Rangu Rangula" | R. P. Patnaik | 4:08 |
Total length: | 33:54 |
The film was also dubbed into Tamil as Nijam, and then again in 2012 as Seerum Singam.[1] The film was dubbed as Meri Adalat in Hindi in 2008, in Bengali as Aamar Protishodh and in Bhojpuri as Hamaar Faisla. It was remade as Arjuna in Oriya starring Anubhab Mohanty and Gargi Mohanty & Bangladesh as Top Leader starring Shakib Khan.
Idlebrain Jeevi in his review gave a rating of 3 out of 5 for the movie with concluding remarks "Overall, it's an average film that has chances to become hit because of the Teja's mass-attracting episodes and Mahesh Babu's brilliant portrayal of the character".[2]
Director Teja in an interview said "We made Nijam in a budget of 6.5 cr INR; We sold audio rights for 2 cr INR and movie initially were sold for a total of 26 cr INR. In total, we made a profit of 5-6 cr INR and Nijam was not a flop".[3] He corroborated the same in an interview with The Hindu "I worked with Mahesh after he had a flop called Bobby, but Nijam released after Okkadu and people drew comparisons. I don’t argue when people say Nijam was a flop. The film was made with a budget of Rs. 6.5 crore and sold for Rs. 21 crore. I repaid money to whoever lost money and still made a huge profit".[4]