Chatrapathi (2005 film)

Chatrapathi is a 2005 Indian Telugu-language action drama film directed by S. S. Rajamouli, who also co-wrote the film with V. Vijayendra Prasad. The film stars Prabhasin the title role alongside Shriya Saran, Bhanupriya, Shafi and Pradeep Rawat playing supporting roles. M. M. Keeravani composed the music. The film was produced by B. V. S. N. Prasad on Sri Venkateswara Cine Chitra banner.

Chatrapathi
DVD cover
Directed by	S. S. Rajamouli
Screenplay by	S. S. Rajamoulii Dialogues: M. Rathnam
Story by	V. Vijayendra Prasad
Produced by	B. V. S. N. Prasad
Starring	Prabhas Shriya Saran Shafi Bhanupriya Pradeep Rawat
Cinematography	K. K. Senthil Kumar
Edited by	Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Music by	M. M. Keeravani
Production company	Sri Venkateswara Cine Chitra
Distributed by	Sri Venkateswara Cine Chitra
Release date	29 September 2005 (2005-09-29)
Running time	165 minutes
Country	India
Language	Telugu

The film follows Sivaji, a Sri Lankan refugee who gets separated from his mother after his brother Ashok falsely declares him dead. Raised in Visakhapatnam's criminal docks, he grows into a rebel leader hailed as "Chatrapathi". Now he must choose between vengeance and reuniting with the mother who believes him dead, while his vengeful brother and his enemy Ras Bihari join forces.

Chatrapathi was released on 29 September 2005 and emerged as a blockbuster, collecting an estimated distributors' share of ₹21 crore against a budget of ₹12.5 crore.^[1][2][3][a] The film won two Nandi Awards - Best Supporting Actress for Bhanupriya and Best Music Director for Keeravani. The film was remade in Bengali as Refugee (2006), in Bangladeshi Bengali as Kothor (2007), in Kannada with the same name in 2013 and in Hindi with the same name in 2023.

Plot

Parvati lives on the coast of Sri Lanka and adopts Sivaji as her son. Parvati shows equal affection to her biological son Ashok, but Ashok becomes jealous of Sivaji. One day, the villagers are forced to evacuate the coast and a fire accident occurs. Ashok separates Sivaji from his family by lying to Pravati that Sivaji died in the fire accident. Sivaji ends up in a different boat and lands in Vizag port, which is dominated by Baji Rao, who uses refugee labor for his gain.

Years later, Sivaji grows up to be an aggressive guy and still searches for his mother. One day, Sivaji reacts violently in defense of the other refugees and kills Baji Rao's right-hand man Katraju after he killed a child named Suri. Enraged, Baji Rao attacks the slum and kills Sivaji's friend when he tried to save other children in the port. Sivaji revolts against Baji Rao and hacks him to death, thus leading the people to refer him as Chatrapathi.

Baji Rao's brother Ras Bihari arrives in Vizag and learns about his brother's death and begins to hunt Sivaji. Ashok also lands in the same place, where he realizes that Sivaji is his brother and joins hands with Ras Bihari. Despite this, Sivaji manages to reunite with Parvati and also kills Ras Bihari, thus saving the port from any danger. Ashok also realize his mistake and apologize to Sivaji and Parvati, where they reunite and live happily.

Cast

• Prabhas as Sivaji / Chatrapathi
• Shriya Saran as Neelu, Shivaji's girlfriend
• Bhanupriya as Parvati, Sivaji's step-mother and Ashok's mother
• Shafi as Ashok/Akash, Sivaji's step-brother
• Pradeep Rawat as Ras Bihari
• Narendra Jha as Baji Rao
• Kota Srinivasa Rao as MLA Appala Nayudu
• Master Teja as Young Ashok
• Manoj Nandam as Young Sivaji
• Ajay as Ajay, Sivaji's friend
• Kamal Kamaraju as Sivaji's friend
• Supreeth as Katraju, Baji Rao's right-hand man
• Venu Madhav as Mahesh Nanda / Katusumo
• Jaya Prakash Reddy as Commissioner
• Surya as Syed Jaffar Khan
• Subbaraya Sharma as Commissioner's assistant
• Srinivasa Reddy as Appala Nayudu's assistant
• L. B. Sriram as Sattana, Sivaji's neighbor and a tea stall owner
• Jeeva as Boat Agent
• Stunt Silva as Satti, Baji Rao's henchman
• Karate Kalyani as Fisherwoman
• Sekhar as Bhadram, Sivaji's best friend
• SS Kanchi as Clerk in Commissioner's Office
• Raghava as Dr. Vihari
• Y. Vijaya
• Anita Chowdary
• Mumaith Khan special appearance in the item song "Mannela Tintivira"
• Aarthi Agarwal special appearance in the song "Summa Masuriyaaa"

Themes

In an interview with Idlebrain.com, Rajamouli described Chatrapathi as a "mother sentiment film", which also deals with the exploitation of immigrants who come to India from the places and live without any official identity. When questioned about similarities to the American film Scarface (1983), he said that his father V. Vijayendra Prasad, who wrote Chatrapathi, watched Scarface and got inspired by the point of immigrants' problems, but there were no scenic resemblances between the two films.^[5]

Soundtrack

Chatrapathi
Soundtrack album by M. M. Keeravani
Released	14 September 2005 (2005-09-14)
Recorded	2005
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	31:59
Language	Telugu
Label	Aditya Music
Producer	M. M. Keeravani
M. M. Keeravani chronology
Allari Bullodu (2005) Chatrapathi (2005) Sri Ramadasu (2006)

The film has seven songs composed by M. M. Keeravani. The track Gundusoodi has been reused from the song Kambangaadu from the Tamil movie Vaaname Ellai (1992) also composed by M. M. Keeravani. The song Agni Skalana was plagiarized from the Main Theme of the video game Myst IV: Revelation (2004) composed by Jack Wall.

Tracklist

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"A Vachhi B Pai Valli"	Chandra Bose	M. M. Keeravani, Mathangi Jagdish	4:44
2.	"Agni Skalana"	Siva Shakti Datta	M. M. Keeravani, Mathangi Jagdish, Mangari	3:09
3.	"Summa Masuriyaaa"	Chandra Bose	Sunitha Upadrashta, Smita, Kalyani Malik, Niraj Pandit	4:40
4.	"Nallanivanni"	Veturi	K. S. Chithra	5:30
5.	"Mannela Tintivira"	Siva Shakti Datta	Tippu, Smita, Karate Kalyani	4:58
6.	"Gundusoodi"	Chandra Bose	Sunitha Upadrashta, M. M. Keeravani	4:18
7.	"Gala Gala Gala"	Chandra Bose	K. S. Chithra, Jassie Gift, Neerippal	4:40
Total length:				31:59

Reception

Critical reception

The Hindu wrote "The film has all the masala ingredients for the present day young generation. Though the storyline is routine, it is the directorial treatment and good screenplay that do the trick for the film."^[6] Sify rated the film 2/5 and wrote, "a swell cast with a young action hero and add a dash of digital wizardry to the stunts and cook up an unimaginative script as an aftermath and serve it piping hot! Chhatrapathi works to a certain extent thanks to the tall handsome hunk Prabhas."^[7] Jeevi of Idlebrain gave 3.5/5 stars and observed that the film's similarities with Scarface and Deewaar, but opined that it stands on its own owing to Rajamouli's direction and Prabhas' performance.^[8][9]

Box office

The film had a 100-day run in 54 venues.^[10]

Awards and nominations

Awards	Category	Nominee	Result
Nandi Awards[11]	Best Supporting Actress	Bhanupriya	Won
	Best Music Director	M. M. Keeravani	Won
53rd Filmfare Awards South[12]	Best Film	B. V. S. N. Prasad	Nominated
	Best Director	S. S. Rajamouli	Nominated
	Best Actor	Prabhas	Nominated
	Best Actress	Shriya Saran	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor	Shafi	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actress	Bhanupriya	Nominated
	Best Comedian	Venu Madhav	Nominated
	Best Villain	Pradeep Rawat	Nominated
	Best Music Director	M. M. Keeravani	Nominated
	Best Lyricist	Shiva Shaki Datta (for song "Agni Skalana")	Nominated

Remakes

The film was remade in Bengali as Refugee (2006), in Bangladeshi Bengali as Kothor (2007), and in Kannada with the same name in 2013, with Siddhanth and Priyadarshini.^[13] It was remade in Hindi with the same name starring Bellamkonda Sreenivas making his debut in Hindi cinema.^[14]

Notes

1. The average exchange rate in 2005 was 44.10 Indian rupees (₹) per 1 US dollar (US$).^[4]