Most Eligible Bachelor is a 2021 Indian Telugu-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Bhaskar and produced by Bunny Vas and Vasu Varma on GA2 Pictures. It stars Akhil Akkineni and Pooja Hegde with music composed by Gopi Sundar, cinematography by Pradeesh Varma and editing by Marthand K. Venkatesh. The film follows the love story of NRI Harsha and stand-up comedian Vibha.
It was released on 15 October 2021 after being repeatedly postponed because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The film opened to positive reviews with critics praising casts performances (particularly Hegde), story and music. The film was commercially successful and grossed 51 crore worldwide.
Plot
A couple drives along the road. All of a sudden, they hit a flock of lamb. The couple get a shock on noticing a man among the flock. The man is introduced to be Harsha (Akhil Akkineni). They asked why he was there and he starts narrating his story.
Harsha is an NRI who lives in New York with aspirations to get married as soon as possible. His family then sets up a marriage for him that has to be completed within 20 days. Excited, Harsha buys himself a house and flies to India for his marriage. In India, he is set to meet 20 prospective brides and he ends up liking the first one he meets. However, his family insists on meeting more to see which one is the perfect match for him. Meanwhile, Harsha's mother tells him to drop a certain bride's details off since their horoscope did not match. Harsha opens the envelope to see that it is Vibha (Pooja Hegde) but he still goes to her father and gives back the details. He then realizes that Vibha's father is Subbu (Murali Sharma) with whom he had a horrible interaction earlier. On top of this, he loses Vibha's picture so Subbu holds his friend captive. In an attempt to find the picture, he meets Vibha at her stand-up comedy show and asks her for her picture. Vibha then asks a series of questions that disrupt Harsha's mentality about marriage. By being with Vibha, he realises that he wants to marry her.
Unexpectedly, Harsha has his marriage set with another girl. In an attempt to get together with Vibha, he goes to Subbu to convince him. However, in a turn of events, Subbu files a case against Harsha for being vulgar in each of his meetings with the brides. Vibha realizes that it was her words that affected Harsha and convinces Subbu to take back the case. Harsha, wanting answers, goes to Vibha and admits to liking her but she says she rejected him over twenty days ago as his mentality about marriage is not the same as hers. An enraged Harsha leaves for New York and tries to understand what went wrong. After attending Ganesh's 25th wedding anniversary and talking with his brother-in-law (), he discovers that their marriage is toxic and that he shouldn't compromise at all.
Nine months pass by and Harsha is a completely changed man with a new mindset. In an attempt to merge his and Megha's companies, he makes her fall for him. Megha's parents want her to marry Harsha even though Harsha still likes Vibha. With his marriage in 20 days, he decides to leave for India early so that he can see Vibha again. On returning to India, he finds out that Vibha does not want to get married due to a painful experience she has. So anonymously, Harsha tries to get Vibha to change back to her old lifestyle and manages to make her fall for him. However, Harsha's parents find out and make him leave Vibha while Subbu simultaneously lets Vibha know that Harsha is getting married and to give up. At his wedding, Vibha shows up to do a stand-up show and Harsha is shocked to see her there. She then narrates her experiences in life with Harsha and then sadly leaves. Megha, who knows all of this, allows Harsha to reunite with Vibha and he manages to convince everyone. In the end, Harsha and Vibha get married and go back to New York.
Cast
Production
Development
In February 2019, director Bhaskar teamed up with Akhil for GA2 Pictures production under Bunny Vasu. In May 2019, the film was officially launched at Film Nagar Temple, Hyderabad with a pooja ceremony. The music is composed by Gopi Sunder while V. Manikandan and Marthand K. Venkatesh were signed as the cinematographer and editor respectively. Manikandan later replaced by Pradeesh Varma, due to the former's exit citing schedule conflicts. Director Vasu Varma is co-producing along with Bunny Vas. The title was announced as Most Eligible Bachelor in February 2020. The film is presented by Allu Aravind of Geetha Arts.