Tagore (film)
| Tagore | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | V. V. Vinayak |
| Written by | A. R. Murugadoss |
| Based on | "Ramanaa" (2002) |
| Produced by | B. Madhu |
| Starring | Chiranjeevi Jyothika Shriya Saran Sayaji Shinde Prakash Raj |
| Cinematography | Chota K. Naidu |
| Edited by | Gowtham Raju |
| Music by | Mani Sharma |
| Distributed by | Leo Projects Private Limited |
Release date |
|
Running time | 176 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Telugu |
| Box office | 45 crore |
Tagore is a 2003 Indian Telugu-language action film directed by V. V. Vinayak, cinematography by Chota K. Naidu. Chiranjeevi, Jyothika and Shriya Saran play the lead roles. The film was a remake of the 2002 Tamil film Ramanaa. It was screened at the International Indian Film Academy Awards, along with Puri Jagannadh's Pokiri.
Plot
The film is about a common man who decides to abolish corruption altogether in the society at various levels.
15 Tahsildars are found missing, and the police find that 14 of them have been released after three days, but one of them has been killed. They find some files and a tape along with the body of the dead Tahsildar. These files carry details of why the kidnapping of the Tahsildars had been done and the reason for the murder of one of them, and have the words ACF written on it. It is understood by the police that these men were the Tahsildars who had indulged themselves in bribery and that they were the top 15 of the list of the corrupt Tahsildars. The ACF sends the tape, with the message that they shall continue the kidnap of the corrupt officers in all the departments and that the No. 1 corrupt shall be sentenced to death according to the law of the Anti Corruption Force. The ACF similarly kidnaps officials from PWD and police department and kills the top corrupt official.
There is fear among the corrupt officials. They come forward to file their returns. For a while there are no illegal transactions done, but the corruption soon continues in the society due to the threatening of the local mob to sign illegal documents and accept bribes. Meanwhile, the ACF finds that it is Badrinarayana (Sayaji Shinde) who is the real reason behind this corruption scenario. Then the kidnapping continues. The case is investigated by group of several old-aged senior level officials who are very slow-moving in their progress. However, Suryam (Prakash Raj), an IPS-passed guy who is working as a constable (unable to pay the bribe to get the officer-level job), takes up the case in order to get promotion in the department and moves ahead of those officials in a short time. He investigates the case starting with finding of the non-corrupt official in every government office, assuming that official would have collected the information of other corrupt officers and passed it to ACF. He tries to figure out what is the common thing which unites them under one roof. He gradually finds out that they are alumni of National College and working for the ACF under their professor and the leader of the ACF, Professor Tagore (Chiranjeevi).
Tagore is a simple man who leads a simple life during the daytime along with his adopted kids from different cultures (one is a Muslim, one is an American, one is Hindu, etc.). He looks like a timid character, but brave in terms of his actions and he loved by all his peers. Tagore once takes one of his kids to the hospital for treating an injury and finds that the hospital is a place full of corruption who play with the lives of people for the sake of money. Tagore decides to expose the truth and catches them red-handed by faking a dead body as a patient. The hospital, unaware of his plans, continue their treatment even though they know that the person is dead and demand lakhs of money for treatment. Tagore produces the documents and receipts related to their fake treatment and gets the hospital sealed by the government. The hospital dean is arrested, but he commits suicide. Badrinarayana, the dean's father, is enraged by this and attempts to take revenge on Tagore. He finds Tagore in the CCTV camera and is shocked as according to him he was dead several years ago.
Tagore is a happy professor who lives with his wife Nandini (Jyothika), who is expecting a second child and son. On a Deepavali day, when the whole apartment is celebrating the festival, the entire building collapses due to some fault in the construction of a nearby highway, and many of the residents (including Nandini and Tagore's son) lose their lives. Tagore rushes to the government officials, and he comes to know that all this was due to one person, namely Badrinarayana, the owner of a construction company and builder of that highway. Tagore finds that the highway was constructed on loose soil by which the contractions caused to collapse was very well known to him. Badrinarayana and his men thrash Tagore heavily and beat him to death. However, Tagore escapes from them. The incidents that he faced at the office and seeing corrupt puppets in the hands of Badrinarayana, he gets frustrated and he forms the ACF (Anti Corruption Force) to fight against corruption. He also kidnaps Badrinarayana and kills him like he killed other corrupted officials.
The constable finally finds out the people working for ACF are the ex-students, and the police force captures all of them. Police men torture them to open the identity of their leader; however, they refuse to do so. Tagore, on seeing his students suffer, surrenders to the police and requests the Indian Police to release his students. The rising support for Tagore makes the Chief Minister (K. Vishwanath) to meet him for higher appeal. Tagore refuses to appeal as he wants to stress the concept in the minds of everyone that if we make mistakes, we will be punished, and he himself doesn't want to violate it as he did a crime of killing four people. Tagore gives a speech in the court explaining what a student power the country has, but corruption is what is letting it down. In the end, Tagore is given a normal punishment of five years and is to be released by then.
Cast
- Chiranjeevi as Tagore
- Jyothika as Nandini aka Nandhu, Tagore's wife
- Shriya Saran as Devaki
- Prakash Raj as Suryam
- Sayaji Shinde as Badrinarayana
- Puneet Issar as Balbir Singh
- Sunil as Boost
- K. Vishwanath as Chief Minister
- Rama Prabha as Tagore's grandmother
- M. S. Narayana as Tagore's uncle
- Raja Ravindra as Badrinarayana's son
- Uttej as Auto Driver
- Sarika Ramachandra Rao as Suryam's colleague
- Narsing Yadav as Goon
- Kota Srinivasa Rao
- Ahuti Prasad
- Venu Madhav
- Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam
- Teja Sajja
- Jeeva
- Jenny
- C.V.L. Narasimha Rao
- V. V. Vinayak as Gopi (cameo)
- FEFSI Vijayan as Jailor (Cameo appearance in pre climax fight)
- Ravichandran (Tamil actor) as Judge (Cameo appearance in pre climax fight)
Remakes and character map
Box office
The film opened in 605 screens[1] and collected a distributors' share of Rs. 95 million in its opening week. It collected Rs. 150.4 million in 2 weeks and Rs 45.35 crores in its full run. The film had a 50-day run in 253 centres[2] and a 100-day run in 191 centres.[3]
Soundtrack
| Tagore | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album to Tagore by | ||||
| Released | 2003 | |||
| Recorded | 2003 | |||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | |||
| Language | Telugu | |||
| Label | Aditya Music | |||
| Producer | Mani Sharma | |||
| Mani Sharma chronology | ||||
| ||||
All music is composed by Mani Sharma
| No. | Title | Artist(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Koditey kottali" | Shankar Mahadevan | 5:13 |
| 2. | "Nenu Saitham" | S. P. Balasubramaniam | 4:05 |
| 3. | "Manmadha manmadha" | Mallikarjun, Mahalakshmi Iyer | 5:01 |
| 4. | "Vaanochchenante" | Udit Narayan, Shreya Ghoshal | 5:08 |
| 5. | "Chinnaga Chinnaga" | K. S. Chithra, Hariharan | 5:21 |
| 6. | "Gappuchippu" | K. S. Chithra, Mano | 4:09 |
Awards and Nominations
| Award Category | Artist | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Santosham Best Actor Award | Chiranjeevi | Won[4] |
DVD
The DVD of Tagore was released by KAD Entertainment with exclusive interviews.
