Magadheera () is a 2009 Indian Telugu-language fantasy romantic action film directed by S. S. Rajamouli and produced by Allu Aravind's Geetha Arts, on a story by V. Vijayendra Prasad. The film stars Ram Charan, Srihari, Kajal Aggarwal and Dev Gill. It is themed on reincarnation and eternal love.
Made on a budget of 3544 crore (US$710 million), Magadheera was the most expensive Telugu film at that time. The film's production began on 2 March 2008 while principal photography commenced on 19 March 2008. The soundtrack was composed by M. M. Keeravani while the cinematography was done by K. K. Senthil Kumar. The action sequences were choreographed by Peter Hein and the duo of Ram–Lakshman. It was the first Telugu film to list a "visual effects producer" in its credits.
Magadheera was released on 31 July 2009 to critical acclaim and commercial success. It is the first telugu film to enter the 100 crore club. It collected a distributors' share of 73.6 crore and gross collections of ₹150 crores at the end of its theatrical run. It became the highest-grossing Telugu film in history at that time. Its 1000-day theatrical run surpassed Chandramukhi (2005) as the longest-running South Indian film. The film won the National Award for Best Choreography and Best Special Effects at the 57th National Film Awards as well as winning six Filmfare Awards, and nine states Nandi Awards. The film's success catapulted the lead actors to stardom.
The film was dubbed into Hindi under the same title, Tamil as Maveeran, and into Malayalam as Dheera: The Warrior and was released on 27 May 2011. Both the dubbed versions were successful and earned a good fan base for Ram Charan in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The Japanese-dubbed version of the film released in August 2018 and became one of the highest-grossing Indian films ever at the Japanese box office. The film was remade in Odia as Megha Sabarire Asiba Pheri in 2010, and in Bengali as Yoddha: The Warrior in 2014.
Plot
In 2009, Harsha is a street-bike racer who is traveling on an auto with his friend to the airport. He spots the blurry outline of a woman trying to flag the auto down and gestures to her that it is already occupied. As he does, their fingers accidentally touch, and Harsha feels an electric current passing through him, which triggers a few fleeting images. After recovering from the shock, he flees the auto in search of the girl and inquires about her to a woman named Indira "Indu", unaware that Indu is the same woman. Indu, thinking he is stalking her, misdirects him by convincing him that the girl is her neighbor. She and her friends exploit Harsha, having him take them to places and promising that the girl will show. After Harsha beats up a group of men who were verbally harassing Indu, she starts to fall in love with him.
It is then revealed that Indu was raised in Hyderabad because her father, Pratap Varma, was evicted from their ancestral estate in Rajasthan, where the 15th-century kingdom of Udaigarh used to stand. The property was seized by Pratap's late younger sister's husband, who after her death had no right to the estate. After killing many lawyers, the brother-in-law and his son, Raghuveer, go to Hyderabad to kill him, but Raghuveer falls in love with Indu after seeing her beauty and body. Raghuveer's father calls him silly, to which Raghuveer murders him and then manipulates Indu and her father into thinking his father died of old age and offering them the estate again, as well as trusting him. However, when he attempts to touch a sleeping Indu, he sees visions of a warrior slitting his throat. Raghuveer consults a tantrik, Ghora, who reveals that in a prior life, Raghuveer was a prince who lusted after Indu and was killed by her lover, a warrior. Raghuveer is determined to find the reincarnation of the warrior and kill him. Meanwhile, Harsha discovers how Indu and her friends have been tricking him, and after he pranks her in retaliation, they start to fall in love. Raghuveer discovers that Harsha is the reincarnation of the warrior, murders Indu's father, and frames Harsha. As Raghuveer and Indu leave in a helicopter, Harsha fails to catch them; falling into a lake, he faces a near-death experience and gets a full vision of his past life in 1609 CE.