For the youth, by the youth

From the manner in which the original was spotted as a potential winner and remade with a few leading stars retained from Malayalam almost instantly, this film had a fast food feel for sure. The sheer youthful exuberance of the film which starred Bharath, (who was suddenly on the rise in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu after his Shankar-directed 'Boys' released in 2003) and the crazy, lilting tune ' 'Malliswarive' sang in a sonorous tone by the music director Jassie Gift were initial boosters to the venture.

In distant Kerala, from where the film travelled to the Telugu zone, the film launched as a vigilante thriller became the highest grosser of 2004. It had a late February release and within nine months, it was being screened at neighbourhood theatres and the up and coming multiplexes all over the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Made at a budget of just above a crore and more by Sravanthi Ravi Kishore, whose production house was churning out youthful hits in the new millennium, the film was released to no expectations and barely noticed hype. The storyline which rationalised violence as a means to solve societal evils like corruption and using the then available digital technology to further the cause found great resonance in coconut land as it has a prevailing Red culture.

However, used to frothy, fun-laden films starring the youth, the Telugu audience appreciated the differently- sounding songs which were quietly nativised from Malayalam and gave a look-in into the Malayali director Jayaraj. The film, however, did not do well as expected but trade sources say it did not descend into a loss-making proposition for the producer as the budget was manageable.

The heroes Bharath and Sharwanand are still around in southern cinema and music director Jassie Gift went on to sing a hit number for Ravi Teja's monstrous hit 'Vikramarkudu' one of the pre-Baahubali successes of S S Rajamouli in 2006. Jassie can be considered the first 'gift' in a way from Kerala as there were other successful composers like Gopi Sundar who later left their imprints in Telugu scoring hit music for films starring the young crop like Vijay Deverakonda etc. The heroine, Gopika, however did not manage to stretch her career for long in any film industry in southern India.