Maharshi () is a 2019 Indian Telugu-language action drama film directed and co-written by Vamshi Paidipally and produced by Sri Venkateswara Creations, Vyjayanthi Movies, and PVP Cinema. It stars Mahesh Babu, along with an ensemble cast of Allari Naresh, Pooja Hegde, Jagapathi Babu, Prakash Raj, Jayasudha, Rao Ramesh, Vennela Kishore, Sai Kumar, Kamal Kamaraju and Meenakshi Dixit. The music was composed by Devi Sri Prasad.

Maharshi was the third highest grossing Telugu film of 2019 and one of the highest-grossing Telugu films. At the 67th National Film Awards, Maharshi won in two categories: the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and Best Choreography. It also fetched the state Telangana Gaddar Film Award for Best Feature Film, five SIIMA Awards and two Zee Cine Awards Telugu.

Plot K. Rishi Kumar is announced as the CEO of Origin, a thriving company based in the United States. He brings his mother from India to live with him. To celebrate, his colleague Nidhi organises a party attended by his childhood friend Kanna, whom he has not seen for years, along with his professor Chandrashekar and college friends. The story then flashes back.

Seven years earlier, Rishi lived in a middle-class nuclear family in Hyderabad. His father Satyanarayana, a clerk at a private corporation, had fallen into debt because of his low salary, and Rishi had grown distant from him because of what he saw as his failure. Rishi gained admission to postgraduate studies at IIET, a prestigious university in Vizag, and moved there. He soon became close friends with his roommate Ravi Shankar and their classmate Pooja. Ravi, the son of a poor farmer, was under pressure to earn a well-paid job in the United States. Ajay, another classmate, envied Rishi’s academic success. Pooja introduced Rishi to her large joint family, confessed her love for him, and received a positive response. Rishi topped his first-semester exams and later encouraged Ravi, who had failed, to persevere. When Ravi eventually secured a good job during campus placements, his family and Pallavi were delighted. Meanwhile, Pooja turned down a job at Infosys to join Rishi in the US after his idea for an AI operating system was accepted by Origin.

However, Rishi ended their relationship, fearing that Pooja would become an obstacle to his career. Ravi tried to stop him, and their friendship collapsed. Later, Rishi was accused of stealing question papers, but the allegation was part of a conspiracy by Ajay to stop him from sitting the examinations. The police released him after a clue cleared his name. After finishing his studies, Rishi moved to California and rose through the ranks at Origin. While presenting a project in New York City, he learned that his father had died in his sleep. Returning to India, he realised how deeply his father had loved and missed him, leaving him full of regret.

In the present, Rishi asks Chandrashekar about Ravi and learns that Ravi was expelled after taking the blame for the theft accusation to protect him, which drove Ravi’s father to suicide. Devastated, Rishi takes leave and returns to India with his mother and Kanna, determined to bring Ravi to the USA. He finds Ravi in his village, Ramavaram, leading a solitary protest against a pipeline transport project that will destroy the village and many others. Ravi refuses to leave, even though the village representative, Pallavi’s father, tries to negotiate compensation for the land. Rishi realises Ravi will not move and decides instead to help him save the village.

He approaches the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, who says the project is being handled by the powerful businessman Vivek Mittal. Rishi then meets Vivek and asks him to spare Ramavaram, but is refused. He responds by setting up an office in the village, attracting media attention. Pooja, now a team leader at a leading video gaming company, arrives with a colleague to negotiate a collaboration, and Rishi asks them to stay in Ramavaram and work on her game idea. Though Pooja is reluctant, she remains there. As the protest grows, Ravi’s explanation for defending the village inspires other villagers and soon gathers nationwide support. Pallavi’s father learns of Ravi’s sacrifice and accepts the relationship.

When Vivek arrives, he raises his compensation offer to split the protesters. Ravi is attacked by hired men from a neighbouring village, but Rishi saves him, and Ravi is hospitalised. Vivek then accuses Rishi of using Ravi for personal gain, and Pooja also blames him, breaking his heart. Rishi is ready to leave, but his mother reveals that his father once passed the UPSC examination and was selected for interview, only to be arrested for joining a farmers’ protest. Though it cost him everything, he never regretted it.

Rishi returns to Ramavaram, supports the farmers, and raises the land offer above Vivek’s. At a press conference, he delivers a powerful speech on the exploitation of farmers and the suicides it causes. The villagers refuse the pipeline project, Pooja reconciles with him, and Ajay exposes Vivek’s corruption. The project gets cancelled, and Vivek is arrested by the Enforcement Directorate.

Rishi is due to return to the USA, but he chooses not to. Realising his happiness lies in the village, he resigns as CEO of Origin and turns to agriculture.

Cast

Production

Development After successfully producing three films – Munna (2007), Brindavanam (2010) and Yevadu (2014) – Dil Raju announced his fourth collaboration with Vamshi Paidipally in early 2018, under Sri Venkateswara Creations. The film was launched under the tentative title #SSMB25, before the title Maharshi was confirmed on 9 August 2018. Speaking to Hemanth Kumar of Firstpost about the script writing, Vamshi said "One of the toughest parts while writing the script was adding multiple layers to the protagonist's journey. We were quite clear that we weren’t going to tell a story. It had to be like a semi-biopic. We didn’t want to treat the character like a hero right from the beginning. It's about a character who becomes a hero in the end".

Filming After the script work was done for a long time, principal photography of the film began in June 2018. A brief first schedule of the filming took place in Hyderabad, Goa and Dehradun. The team next headed to the United States for a two-month long schedule. After a delay in the U.S. schedule, filming in the region was completed by November 2018.

Soon, the team resumed the shoot in Hyderabad at Ramoji Film City, where a fictional village set was constructed. It was reported that the set was constructed at a cost of . The schedule lasted until the third week of December 2018. The team then took a brief break, with Mahesh Babu and his family going to Dubai for a short holiday. Filming was resumed in the second week of January 2019. The schedule took place in Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, and was completed within the same month. The next schedule took place in February 2019. In February Sri Venkateswara Creations announced that the filming would be completed by 15 March 2019, except for two songs. However, the shooting of the film was wrapped up on 18 April 2019.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack album and background music were composed by Devi Sri Prasad. All lyrics were written by Sri Mani. The complete soundtrack album was released on 1 May 2019 at the film's pre-release event, where various music artistes performed the songs.

Release The film was originally scheduled to release on 25 April 2019. On 6 March 2019, Dil Raju announced that the film would be postponed due to delay in the post-production work. The film was released theatrically on 9 May 2019 in India and on 8 May 2019 across 2500 screens in the United States. In Bengaluru, the film was released across 400 screens, thus becoming the first Telugu film to have a high screen count, of the time.

The film was also dubbed and released in 2020 in Tamil as Ungalukkaga Oruvan, in Kannada as Veera Maharshi and in Malayalam. The Hindi dubbed version was directly premiered on Goldmines TV channel on 16 June 2024.

Distribution The film's pre-release business, which includes theatrical, overseas, satellite, digital, music and dubbing rights, were sold for .

Hindi dubbing rights of the film were sold to Goldmines Telefilms for . Vintage Creations (East Godavari), Adhitya Films (West Godavari), Phars Film (United Arab Emirates), Sri Venkateswara Creations (Nizam and Uttarandhra), V Movies (Guntur), Rising Star Entertainment (United Kingdom), G3 Movies (Krishna) and Swagath Enterprises (Karnataka).

Marketing A 43-second video titled #MeetRishi was released on 9 August 2018, coinciding with Mahesh Babu's birthday. On 10 March 2019, Mahesh Babu shared a few behind-the-scenes pictures on the social media. The official teaser of the film titled #JoinRishi was released on Ugadi, 6 April 2019. To promote the film, a pre-release event was held on 1 May 2019, at People's Plaza, Necklace Road, Hyderabad. The official trailer and complete audio album of the film were released at the event. Various music artistes of the soundtrack album performed songs from the film. Vijay Deverakonda and Venkatesh were the chief guests of the event.

On 16 May 2019, an interactive event titled Maharshulatho Maharshi was held in Hyderabad, in which Paidipally and Babu had an interaction/interview with the farmers. Later, a similar event titled Repati Maharshulatho Maharshi was held, in which both of them interacted with the school students of The Hyderabad Public School. Eight days after the release, an event was held at Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, to celebrate the film's success. The event, titled Maharshi Vijayotsavam, was held on 18 May 2019. In June 2019, the event Celebrating Maharshi was held at Shilpakala Vedika, Hyderabad, to celebrate the film's 50 day run in 211 cinemas across India.

Home media The satellite rights of the film were purchased by Sun TV Network for , and the Telugu version was sold for Gemini TV for .

Its fifth-time premiere on the channel registered a TRP rating of 10.28. On an average, the TRP ratings of other premieres are also more than 4.

The film's digital rights were acquired by Amazon Prime Video for , The digital and satellite rights of the Tamil and Kannada dubbed versions of the film were acquired by Star India. The Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam dubbed versions of the film premiered on Star Vijay, Star Suvarna and Zee Keralam respectively, on 18 October 2020.

Critical reception