Bro (2023 film)

Bro
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Samuthirakani
Screenplay by	Trivikram Srinivas
Based on	Vinodhaya Sitham
Produced by	T. G. Vishwa Prasad Vivek Kuchibotla
Starring	Pawan Kalyan Sai Dharam Tej Ketika Sharma Priya Prakash Varrier Brahmanandam Subbaraju
Cinematography	Sujith Vaassudev
Edited by	Naveen Nooli
Music by	Thaman S
Production companies	People Media Factory Zee Studios
Release date	28 July 2023 (2023-07-28)
Running time	133 minutes
Country	India
Language	Telugu
Budget	est.₹50 crore
Box office	est.₹40–45 crore (Day 1)

Bro (stylized as BRO) (meaning: Brother) is a 2023 Indian Telugu-language supernatural fantasy comedy film directed by Samuthirakani, from a screenplay by Trivikram Srinivas. Produced under People Media Factory and Zee Studios. An adaptation of the 2021 Tamil movie Vinodhaya Sitham, it stars Pawan Kalyan, Sai Dharam Tej, Priya Prakash Varrier, Ketika Sharma, Brahmanandam and Subbaraju.

The music is composed by Thaman S, cinematography handled by Sujith Vasudev and editing by Naveen Nooli. Bro was theatrically released on 28 July 2023.

Plot

Markandeyulu "Mark" is an IT worker in Hyderabad, Telangana, with desire of getting a girlfriend. He is a dominating individual who puts his own interests ahead of others, including that of his own family, comprising his mother Easwari, sisters Veena and Gayathri, brother Arun, who is working in the United States, and his girlfriend Ramya. Once on a road trip from Vizag to Hyderabad, Mark meets with an accident and dies. When he wakes up, he finds himself in a strange dark place, where a man dressed in black approaches him and introduces himself as Time a.k.a. Titan. Time informs Mark that his time at Earth is over.

On hearing this, Mark begs him that his company and family depend on his work for everything. He asks Time to send him back so that he can put his family and company on a stabler condition, before leaving the world. Time agrees but gives him only three months time, based on secrecy about this agreement and on the condition that he is always with him. Thus, Mark survives the accident and returns home, with Time in tow.

Over the course of the next three months, Mark faces many hurdles in his personal life, all witnessed by Time. He is bypassed in favour of Venugopal, a young IIM graduate for the post of General Manager, causing him to resign from his job in protest and leaves the office. Within minutes, he receives news that Easwari fell unconscious and was taken to hospital. There he finds Easwari has early stages of Parkinson's disease and is recommended to take her to US for further treatment. Time also make him realize that his savings will run out soon. Mark resumes his job. Mark's elder sister Veena, for whom he was finalising an alliance with his best friend Krishnamoorthy's son, disagrees for the marriage. Before his eyes, she leaves home with her boyfriend.

Within minutes, Arun returns home, and tells that he lost his job. Mark further finds out that Arun is in a live-in relationship with an Indian American girl named Andrea, who introduces herself as Mahalakshmi. Arun berates his father for always interfering in his life decisions and gives him an ultimatum: to either accept his love life or to expel him entirely. Due to Veena's decision, the next morning Mark fixes the marriage between Krishnamoorthy's son and his youngest sister Gayathri, who accepts in order to save her father's reputation, despite wanting to study abroad.

Weeks later, Mark is insulted in the board meeting, for being absent during a discussion. He rants about it to Time in a bar and is overheard by his MD. Mark's idea works and the company makes higher profit. The MD moves to become Chairman and Mark becomes the Managing Director, thus reaching higher than his ambition. He brings Easwari home and is shocked that Easwari is aware about Veena's relationship and manages to convince Mark to accept them, which he does on realising (with Time's help) that Krishnamoorthy's son had a relationship with another woman, who was pregnant with their child, and he and Krishnamoorthy were forcing her to undergo an abortion. He then cancels Gayathri's wedding and allows her to study further. He carries out his responsibilities with humility and is no longer dominating as before. He also spends more time with his family and enjoys with them. He pays ahead in full for Gayathri's higher study in Switzerland.

10 days before the end of the three month period, Mark, realising that his death is near, pledges his organs. The same night Mark confesses that he had cheated one other in the past in the name of a job, and completely regrets what he had done. Time reveals that Venugopal was the brother of Madhanagopal, whom Mark cheated 7 years ago to get the job in an interview. Time says that Madhanagopal got the better life which was actually planned for Mark. That was also one of the reason why Venugopal superseded him to being General manager.

Time realizes that Mark's reformation is genuine and offers to accompany him to heaven, which he accepts wholeheartedly. While he walks with Time to heaven, it is shown in parallel that he has died in his sleep.

Cast

• Sai Dharam Tej as Markandeyulu "Mark"
• Pawan Kalyan as God of Time "Titan"
• Ketika Sharma as Ramya, Mark's girlfriend
• Priya Prakash Varrier as Veena, Mark's sister
• Brahmanandam
• Subbaraju
• Vennela Kishore
• Yuva Lakshmi as Mark's Sister
• Ali Reza
• Rohini as Mark's mother
• Tanikella Bharani
• Prudhvi Raj
• Raja Chembolu
• Surya Sreenivas as Mark's brother
• Urvashi Rautela in a cameo appearance as Sithra Manjari in "My Dear Markandeya"

Production

In December 2021, after the success of Vinodhaya Sitham, Samuthirakani was invited to remake the film in Telugu. However, he did not want to return as an actor and intended to cast another star in it. In February 2023, the film was officially launched, with Pawan Kalyan alongside Sai Dharam Tej, who would essay the roles of Samuthirakani and Thambi Ramaiah respectively, from the original version.

The film was under the tentative title PKSDT, as it featured Pawan Kalyan and Sai Dharam Tej in the titular roles. Shortly, the title was announced as Bro in May 2023. The principal photography of the film began the same month in Hyderabad.

Later that month, Tej's character was announced as Markandeyulu "Mark".

Music

Bro
Soundtrack album by Thaman S.
Released	27 July 2023 (2023-07-27)
Genre	Film soundtrack
Length	18:36
Language	Telugu
Label	Mango Music
Thaman S. chronology
Varisu (2023) Bro (2023) Skanda (2023)

The music for the film is composed by Thaman S in his third collaboration with Pawan Kalyan after Vakeel Saab and Bheemla Nayak, and his sixth collaboration with Sai Tej after Thikka, Winner, Jawaan, Prati Roju Pandage, and Solo Brathuke So Better. The first single "My Dear Markandeya" released on July 8, 2023. The song got mixed reviews. The second single "Jaanavule" was released on July 15, 2023. The third single, "Theme of BRO", was released on 25 July 2023.

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"My Dear Markandeya"	Ramajogayya Sastry	L. V. Revanth, Snigdha Sharma	4:18
2.	"Jaanavule"	Kasarla Shyam	Thaman S., K. Pranati	3:44
3.	"Theme of BRO"	Kalyan Chakravarthy	L. V. Revanth, Saicharan, Sudhamshu, Arun Kaundiya, P. V. N. S. Rohit, Maman Kumar, Chaitu Satsangi, Harsha	4:39
4.	"Bro Rap"	Aditya Iyengar	Aditya Iyengar	2:06
5.	"Okasaari Putti"	Kasarla Syam	Ravi G	3:49

Release

Theatrical

Bro was theatrically released on 28 July 2023.

Home media

Satellite rights are owned by Zee Telugu and digital streaming rights by Netflix.

Reception

Bro opened to mixed to negative reviews from critics.

Neeshita Nyayapati of The Times of India rated the film 2 out of 5 stars and wrote "BRO could’ve been the poignant tale of a man who had to grow up a little too fast and, in the process, forgets to make the most of his life. What you get instead is a film that loses steam as it progresses with the messaging lost in the chaos of it all. This one is a missed opportunity." Balakrishna Ganeshan of The News Minute rated the film 2 out of 5 stars and wrote "The biggest drawback of BRO is its stage-play-like treatment of the story. It is too artificial to be believable. The predictable narrative makes us want more than the fun exchanges between Time and Markandeya." Raghu Bandi of The Indian Express rated the film 2 out of 5 stars and wrote "Pawan Kalyan again plays god in a film that takes his political persona one step further." Janani K of India Today rated the film 2 out of 5 stars and wrote "What worked in the Tamil version failed to work in the Telugu reboot because of its commercialisation." Priyanka Sundar of Firstpost rated the film 1.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "A few good laughs in a movie that spans 2 hours 5 minutes is not enough. The film more often than not placed higher value on nostalgia than story telling." Subhash K Jha of Zoom TV rated the film 1.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Poor Sai Dharam Tej! His character is constantly grumpy and cranky as if the actor, more than the character, knows time is running out." Sowmya Rajendran of Moneycontrol reviewed the film and wrote "Bro could have been an interesting commentary on how patriarchy forces men into the provider role, and how pressuring that is."

External links

• Bro at IMDb