Villain (2003 film)

Villain
Directed by	K. S. Ravikumar
Written by	T Sainath (Dialogues)
Screenplay by	K. S. Ravikumar
Story by	Yugi Sethu
Produced by	Singanamala Ramesh A Mallikharjuna (Presenter)
Starring	Rajasekhar Neha Dhupia Tulip Joshi
Cinematography	C Vijayasri
Edited by	Kola Bhaskar
Music by	Vidyasagar
Production company	Kanaka Ratna Movies Pvt Ltd
Release date	23 November 2003 (2003-11-23)
Running time	159 minutes
Country	India
Language	Telugu

Villain is a 2003 Indian Telugu-language action masala film written and directed by K. S. Ravikumar. The film stars Rajasekhar in dual roles, alongside Neha Dhupia and Tulip Joshi. The film is a remake of the director's own Tamil film of the same name, which released in the previous year. Sujatha and Vijayan reprise their respective roles while Vidyasagar, who composed the soundtrack for the original, was signed to compose the music for this film as well. This film marks the Telugu debuts of Dhupia, Joshi, and Vijayan.

Plot

Shiva and Vishnu (both played by Rajasekhar) are identical twins. Shiva, the elder one, is a bus conductor, while Vishnu, the younger one, has a mild intellectual disability. Shiva overhears his parents' plot to kill Vishnu. He runs away to another city with Vishnu and strives hard to look after him. Vijayan, who runs a beggar trade, beats Vishnu brutally, and Vishnu becomes handicapped for life. Shiva leaves Vishnu in a home run by a social worker (Sujatha). During the day, Shiva works as a bus conductor, and at the same time, poses as Vishnu: to play Robin Hood and steal from the rich and corrupt. A gang including Neha Dhupia and others assist him in these operations. He is never suspected, and so, with the stolen money, he takes care of not only Vishnu, but also 800 people in other institutions for the physically handicapped. A college student Tulip Joshi falls in love with Shiva, but he later comes to know she is Vijayan's sister-in-law. Matters worsen when Vijayan becomes the chairman of the institute for the physically disabled. How Shiva deals with the situation forms the rest of the story. Meanwhile, Neha is in love with Shiva, though he does not know this. Later she gives up her love and lets Tulip marry Shiva. At last, Shiva marries Tulip and Neha marries Vishnu.

Cast

• Rajasekhar as Guru and Vishnu
• Neha Dhupia as Aisha
• Tulip Joshi
• Naresh
• Vijayan
• Rami Reddy
• Sujatha
• Jeeva
• Sivaji Raja
• Tirupati Prakash
• AVS
• Siva Krishna
• Rajitha
• Ganesh
• Costumes Krishna
• Raghunatha Reddy
• Bhupinder Singh
• Jenny
• Lakshmipati
• Gautam Raju
• Ranganath
• K. S. Ravikumar in a special appearance as himself, a Tamil director who wants to do a film with Shiva and Vishnu

Production

Rajasekhar watched Villain and enjoyed the film, but was initially hesitant to act in a remake. He decided to act in the remake after a member of his team encouraged him to do so. Neha Dhupia, who did an item number, in Ninne Ishtapaddanu, was signed to make her Telugu film debut with this film.

Soundtrack

Vidyasagar composed the songs for the film. Sohan Music bought the audio rights for the soundtrack. The audio launch for Villain was held on 29 October 2003. Chandrababu Naidu, the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, released the audio of the film and gave the first cassette to Pullela Gopichand, a badminton player. An event was held at Annapurna Studios in Hyderabad. During the event, Rajashekhar, the vice president of the Red Cross of Andhra Pradesh donated 50 stitching machines and wheel chairs. AVS (who is a part of the film) and Anitha handled the event.

• Panchadara Chilaka - Udit Narayan, Sadhana Sargam
• Naa Gunde Gudilo - P. Unnikrishnan, Sujatha Mohan
• Dummeyika Dulipeyyara - Karthik, Swarnalatha
• Ee Paadu Goododili - S. P. Balasubramaniam
• Hello Hello Mahaasaya - Tippu, Shalini Singh, Harini
• Vaadichoopo Vedichoopo - Shankar Mahadevan, Sujatha

Release & Reception

The film was scheduled to release on 14 November to coincide with Children's Day. Idlebrain gave the film of 2.75 out of 5 and stated how the director, K. S. Ravikumar, didn't make enough changes to the film to suit the Telugu audience. The reviewer also commented on how the first half of the film resembles Gentleman. The Full Hyderabad criticized the film and wrote how there is nothing good about the film save for Rajashekhar's performance and the twins' childhood scene.