Gaali Sampath

Gaali Sampath
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Anish R. Krishna
Screenplay by	Anil Ravipudi
Story by	S. Krishna
Produced by	S. Krishna Harish Peddi Sahu Garapati
Starring	Rajendra Prasad Sree Vishnu Lovely Singh
Cinematography	Sai Sriram
Edited by	Tammiraju
Music by	Achu Rajamani
Production companies	Imagespark Entertainment Shine Screens
Release date	11 March 2021 (2021-03-11)
Country	India
Language	Telugu

Gaali Sampath (transl. "Wind" Sampath) is a 2021 Indian Telugu-language survival drama film directed by Anish R. Krishna, from a screenplay by Anil Ravipudi. The film stars Rajendra Prasad, Sree Vishnu, and Lovely Singh. Tanikella Bharani, and Satya play supporting roles. Prasad and Vishnu portray a father-son duo. The music is composed by Achu Rajamani.

Upon release, on 11 March 2021, the film opened to mixed reviews and was a commercial failure at the box office.

Plot

Sampath, a Radio Jockey whose ambition is to be an actor, loses his wife and his voice in an accident that occurred on a rainy day. As he can only make blowing noises, he is nicknamed "Gaali" Sampath. Years later he lives with his son Suri who's a truck driver with respiratory problem. Suri falls in love with the village head's daughter. He convinces the village head by assuring him that he would only marry his daughter only after financially settling in life. He gets 5 Lakh rupees cash from a bank manager with a promise that he would return the money in a week and stores it at home.

Sampath gets a chance to participate in a drama competition, but he has to bribe 5 lakh rupees to the troupe manager. Sampath asks money from his friend who is in love with the village head's daughter. He sabotages Suri's marriage alliance by asking Sampath to create a ruckus so the chief would cancel their marriage. Sampath, not knowing that his son loves her, thrashes the chief and reports to his friend who betrays him.

Sampath takes the money that his son needs with hopes to repay his son after winning the competition with prize money of 8 Lakhs. He acts as a mime unable to feed his baby due to poverty. The audience is moved by his performance. On the same day, his son learns of his father sabotaging all his plans and leaves the house. Sampath, depressed tries to curse the rain for taking away everything perfect in his life and slips into a well and is knocked unconsciousness. Sampath overhears his son telling him that he is better on his own and tells everyone that his father is better dead than alive. Sampath then tries to kill himself.

Suri learns about his father's real intentions from his father's friend, that his father sacrificed greatly for his well-being, he begins searching for his father. Desperate, he stops near the well where the chief asks Suri to stop searching for Sampath and marry his daughter to move on with his life. Suri refuses and speaks highly of his father. Upon hearing this Sampath is motivated to try and get out of the well.

As he makes progress with items he finds inside the well, he nears the brim of the well only for it to start raining and him to lose his grip and fall. Meanwhile, Suri goes into a panic attack and gasps for air, while Sampath realises that the heavy rain filling the well is aiding in his climb to get out of the well. Although injured, he provides medication to Suri and passes out of exhaustion from his attempt to escape the well. After a few days, Sampath wins the first prize in the drama competition and uses the money to repay Suri's debt along with helping him buy a new truck. On the same day when it starts to rain instead of cursing it, he starts to dance and enjoy the rain showing his new take on life.

Cast

• Rajendra Prasad as Gaali Sampath
• Sree Vishnu as Suri, Gaali Sampath's son
• Lovely Singh as Papa, Suri's love interest
• Tanikella Bharani as Station Master, Gaali Sampath's friend
• Satya as Gaali Sampath's Translator
• Raghu Babu as Veerabhadram
• Anish Kuruvilla as Bank Auditor
• Srikanth Iyyengar as Bank Manager Haribabu
• Rajitha as Haribabu's wife
• Srinivasa Reddy as Driver
• Mirchi Kiran
• Gagan Vihari
• Sreenivas Sai
• Mime Madhu
• Surendra Reddy
• Karate Kalyani as Pankajam
• Rajasree Nair as Gaali Sampath's wife and Suri's mother
• Rupalakshmi
• Sujatha Simhadri

Production

The film was announced in October 2020. Later, the film was launched and muhurat shot was filmed on 16 November 2020 at Ramanaidu Studios in Hyderabad, India. Principal photography of the film began in the same month. Most of the scenes were shot in Uttarandhra region of Andhra Pradesh. S. Krishna wrote the story and co-produced the film while Anil Ravipudi scripted the film and supervised the direction department.

Release

The film was theatrically released on 11 March 2021. Gaali Sampath was released digitally though Aha and Amazon Prime on 19 March 2021.

Reception

The Indian Express critic Gabetta Ranjith Kumar stated that the characterisation and Rajendra Prasad's portrayal of Gaali Sampath are the positive aspects of the film. Y. Sunitha Chowdhary of The Hindu felt that film was not engaging enough and wrote "Loud characters become a liability in this survival drama."

A reviewer from The Hans India gave a positive review for the film, writing that "Gaali Sampath is a first of its kind attempt in Telugu cinema and has been executed perfectly." Jalapathy Gudelli in his review for Sify concluded that "Rajendra Prasad’s strong performance and Sree Vishnu’s acting are the only good parts. Lame writing and old-school narration have diluted the emotional angle of the film."

External links

• Gaali Sampath at IMDb