Azad (2000 film)

Azad
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Thirupathisamy
Written by	Paruchuri Brothers (dialogues)
Screenplay by	Thirupathisamy Yandamuri Veerendranath Bhupathi Raja Crazy Mohan Feroz Bhagat Maharajan
Story by	Thirupathisamy
Produced by	C. Ashwini Dutt
Starring	Nagarjuna Akkineni Soundarya Shilpa Shetty
Cinematography	Chota K. Naidu
Edited by	Marthand K. Venkatesh
Music by	Mani Sharma
Production company	Vyjayanthi Movies
Release date	29 September 2000 (2000-09-29)
Running time	150 minutes
Country	India
Language	Telugu

Azad (transl. Independent) is a 2000 Indian Telugu-language action film produced by C. Ashwini Dutt under Vyjayanthi Movies and directed by Thirupathisamy. It stars Nagarjuna Akkineni, Soundarya, Shilpa Shetty in the lead roles and music composed by Mani Sharma. The film completed 100 days run in 4 centres. The film inspired the Tamil movie Velayudham (2011) starring Vijay and also dubbed in Tamil as Kurukshetram and in Hindi as Mission Azad.

Plot

Anjali (Soundarya) is a journalist who witnesses the murder of a senior journalist carrying crucial evidence about a mafia don. Anjali is on a mission to sue the criminal Deva (Raghuvaran), who is responsible for the murder. Anjali is also harassed by Deva's misdeeds. Deva is the most influential person in the region who runs Hindu Seva Samithi, but in reality, he is an undercover Islamic militant on a mission to release their terrorist group head imprisoned by the state administration. Deva is apparently a Hindu devotee who is bent upon teaching the Bhagavad Gita to every human he meets. Anjali happens to see an accident in which a bunch of Deva's henchmen die. She takes this opportunity to create and glorify a fictional character called "Azad". She writes a letter that Azad has done this assassination to end crime in the city & state. The word spreads like wildfire that there is a man called "Azad" who is the rescuer of the common man.

A humble and intelligent guy called Chandra Sekhar Azad (Akkineni Nagarjuna) from Rajahmundry, has a widowed mother (Kalairani), a beautiful sister Kaveri (Sujitha) and a cute fiancé, Kanaka Mahalakshmi (Shilpa Shetty) to take care of. As Kaveri's marriage is fixed, Azad goes to Hyderabad to get the five lakhs he saved in a chit fund company. There, he happens to be involved in a few bomb-blasting incidents and rescue incidents and avoids all the bomb blasts and crimes without his knowledge. People start to think that he is the "Azad". Anjali meets him and explains to him about her mission of ending crime in the state.

However, Azad is more interested in retrieving money from the chit fund company and going back to Rajahmundry to participate in his sister's marriage. He refuses to enact the role and take the responsibility of the legendary character "Azad". But later on, the chit fund company turns out to be bogus which was managed by Deva, to generate finance for the smuggling of ammunition to Pakistan. Upon seeing the victims of the chit fund company committing suicide, Azad wears the mask of 'Azad' to stop Deva's mission. All these incidents make Deva extremely frustrated, so he kills and blasts Kaveri at her wedding. Azad also comes to know that Deva is not a Hindu, but a Kashmiri Muslim terrorist who is on a mission to destroy India.

Deva demands the state administration for release of their militant leader in exchange for the lives of train passengers hijacked by Deva en route to Pakistan via Punjab, India. The rest of the plot deals with how Azad banishes Deva and his gang of militants.

Cast

• Nagarjuna Akkineni as Chandra Sekhar Azad
• Soundarya as Anjali
• Shilpa Shetty as Mahalakshmi
• Raghuvaran as Deva
• Prakash Raj as Inspector Saleem
• Brahmanandam as Thief
• Kalairani as Azad's mother
• Sujitha as Kaveri
• Nutan Prasad as Anjali's father
• Raghunatha Reddy as Mahalakshmi's father
• Tanikella Bharani as Kanaka Raju
• Ananth Babu as School Teacher
• Venu Madhav as Citizen
• Dharmavarapu Subramanyam as Editor
• M. S. Narayana as Constable
• Banerjee as Banerjee
• L. B. Sriram as Sastry
• Narsing Yadav as Rowdy
• Chitti Babu
• Gundu Hanumantha Rao
• Indu Anand as Mahalakshmi's mother
• Rajashree Reddy as Doctor
• Likitha Kamini
• Urvasi Patil in an item number

Soundtrack

Azad
Film score by Mani Sharma
Released	2000
Genre	Soundtrack
Length	28:56
Label	Supreme Music
Producer	Mani Sharma
Mani Sharma chronology
Yuvakudu (2000) Azad (2000) Vamsi (2000)

The music was composed by Mani Sharma. Music released on SUPREME Audio Company.

Azad - Telugu Tracklist (Original)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Koila Koila"	Suddala Ashok Teja	Abhijeet Bhattacharya	4:30
2.	"Kala Anuko"	Veturi Sundararama Murthy	Hariharan, Mahalakshmi Iyer	5:21
3.	"Chemma Chekka Chemma Chekka"	Sirivennela Sitarama Sastry	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. S. Chithra, Harini	4:32
4.	"So So Sonare"	Chandra Bose	Udit Narayan, Vasundhara Das	4:47
5.	"Sudigaalilo"	Veturi Sundararama Murthy	Hariharan, K. S. Chithra	5:08
6.	"Hai Hai Nayakaa"	Veturi Sundararama Murthy	Sukhwinder Singh, K. S. Chithra	4:24
Total length:				28:56

All lyrics are written by Piraisoodan, Muthulingam, and Ponniyin Selvan

Kurukshetram - Tamil Tracklist

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Koila Koila"	Piraisoodan	Mano	4:30
2.	"Manadinile"	Ponniyin Selvan	Ramu, Sunandha	5:21
3.	"Sembaruthi Sembaruthi"	Muthulingam	Ramu, Harini	4:32
4.	"So So So Adi Sonare"	Piraisoodan	P. Unnikrishnan, Harini	4:47
5.	"Idi Osaiyo"	Ponniyin Selvan	Srinivas, Sindhu	5:08
6.	"Hai Hai Nayaga"	Muthulingam	Krishnaraj, Sindhu	4:24
Total length:				28:56

Awards

• Nandi Award for Best Feature Film - Silver - 2000
• Andhra Pradesh Film Journalists Association Award - 2000 - Akkineni Nagarjuna

External links

• Azad at IMDb