Guntur Kaaram

Guntur Kaaram (pronounced [ɡʊɳʈuːɾ kaːɾʌm]; transl. The Spice of Guntur), also known as Guntur Kaaram: Highly Inflammable, is a 2024 Indian Telugu-language action comedy film written and directed by Trivikram Srinivas and produced by S. Radha Krishna through Haarika & Hassine Creations. It features Mahesh Babu in the lead role, alongside Jayaram, Ramya Krishna, Prakash Raj, Sreeleela, Meenakshi Chaudhary, Easwari Rao, Jagapathi Babu, Sunil and Rao Ramesh.

The film was officially announced in May 2021 under the tentative title SSMB28, as it is Babu's 28th film in the leading role, and the official title was announced in May 2023. Principal photography commenced in September 2022, predominantly shot in Hyderabad, and wrapped by late-December 2023. The film's score and soundtrack are composed by Thaman S, with cinematography handled by Manoj Paramahamsa and editing handled by Naveen Nooli.

Guntur Kaaram was released in theatres worldwide on 12 January 2024, coinciding with Sankranti, to mixed-to-negative reviews from the critics and audience alike. Trivikram's direction and screenplay were highly criticized, while Babu's performance was unanimously acclaimed. It eventually grossed around 212 crores worldwide against its budget of ₹200 crores, becoming a below-average grosser.

Plot

In 1998, in Guntur, brothers and notorious hooligans Dokka Marx Babu and Lenin Babu burned down Bhogineni Satyam's mirchi factory. During the chaos, Satyam’s brother-in-law, Rangam, accidentally kills Lenin, leading Satyam to take the blame and get imprisoned for 12 years. Satyam’s son, Ramana, loses partial vision in his left eye due to the explosion. Following this, Satyam's wife, Vasundhara, leaves him and moves back to Hyderabad, eventually marrying her cousin, Narayana.

In 2023, Vasundhara became the Minister of Law under her father, Vyra Venkata Swamy’s political party. However, her past and her son, Ramana, become liabilities when Kata Madhu, a rival politician, threatens to expose Ramana’s identity. Venkata Swamy pressures Ramana into signing a legal document to sever ties with Vasundhara in exchange for money, but Ramana refuses unless he can meet his mother. Tensions rise as Venkata Swamy's lawyer, Paani, and assistant Balu try to coerce Ramana into submission. To force Ramana’s hand, Venkata Swamy orders a false FIR accusing Ramana of destroying property and assaulting guards. Despite Balu’s empathy and efforts to help Ramana get bail, the situation escalates, culminating in Ramana confronting his grandfather Venkata Swamy.

Ramana’s confrontation with his mother, Vasundhara, leads to a slap that compels him to sign the document. Kata Madhu, seizing the opportunity, exposes Ramana’s identity to the media, revealing his lineage with Vasundhara. Venkata Swamy’s attempts to arrest Ramana fail, and Satyam, from prison, unveils painful truths about Vasundhara’s past decisions, including her role in the trial that led to Satyam’s wrongful conviction. Ramana, devastated by the revelation, is later kidnapped by the blind contract killer "Gelatin" Babji, who reveals that Venkata Swamy and Narayana had plotted to have Ramana killed. Elsewhere, Vasundhara is struck by a lorry and is hospitalised. Ramana rushes to see her; Venkata Swamy reveals to him that Hari Das, a rowdy, and Kata Madhu planned to murder Vasundhara under the guise of the accident. He convinces Ramana to kill them to prove that he is Vasundhara's son. In the process, he also reveals to Paani that he orchestrated the attack on Satyam's factory in 1998 to bring his daughter back, as he lost the elections then due to Vasundhara marrying Satyam, who was from another caste.

When Ramana goes to confront Hari Das, he reveals that he never planned the murder with Kata. Still, his vengeance is towards Venkata Swamy, with whom he set up a business 25 years ago, and was eventually backstabbed by him. As the story unfolds, it’s revealed that Narayana and Venkata Swamy orchestrated the supposed accident on Vasundhara to further their political ambitions. In the final confrontation, at an event to make Raja Gopal, Vasundhara's son with Narayana, an MP, Narayana reveals to Venkata Swamy that Gopal is not their biological son but was merely adopted by Vasundhara to fool her father so that Ramana can be saved from harm. Even though they are married, they never consummated and slept separately in their bedroom. Ramana learns of a larger conspiracy involving his mother’s sacrifice and his grandfather’s manipulation. He becomes enraged at his grandfather, but Vasundhara stops him, and they both go back to Guntur, where she reunites with Satyam and Bujji.

Cast

Production

Development

In early April 2021, it was reported that Trivikram Srinivas, who had successful collaborations with both Mahesh Babu and Pooja Hegde after working with the former in Athadu (2005) and Khaleja (2010); the latter in Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava (2018) and Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo (2020), would collaborate with both Babu and Hegde for his next directorial before his venture with N. T. Rama Rao Jr. He reportedly had narrated the script before the final script works which impressed the actor and actress and made them agree to work on the venture, in their third respective collaboration with the director. On 1 May, the collaboration of Babu and Trivikram was officially announced, under the tentative title SSMB28. Production was set to begin in November 2021 as Babu reportedly finished filming by then for Sarkaru Vaari Paata (2022). Trivikram repeated his norm technicians from Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava and Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo: cinematographer P. S. Vinod, editor Naveen Nooli, music composer Thaman S, and art director A. S. Prakash, were finalised as the technical crew. The film was bankrolled by S. Radha Krishna, under Haarika & Hassine Creations.

A muhurtam pooja ceremony was held on 3 February 2022 at Ramanaidu Studios in Hyderabad with the film's cast and crew. The film was initially promoted as an action thriller. However, after the completion of the first schedule, reports surfaced about conflicts among crew members and the cast. Subsequently, the production of the film was paused, and the script was reworked. After several months of delay, Trivikram presented a new modified script that transformed the film into a family entertainer, departing from the original narrative as an action thriller. The sequences filmed during the first schedule, including fight sequences choreographed by Anbariv, were intended to be discarded. The shooting recommenced with action sequences as per the modifications done to the script.

Casting

Pooja Hegde was initially cast as the lead actress, paired opposite Babu for the second time after Maharshi (2019) as well as in her third collaboration with director, however due to her schedule conflicts, she opted out from the venture and was subsequently replaced by Sreeleela. The latter was initially signed on to play the second actress role before Hegde opted out, however after that, Sreeleela took over the lead actress role and the second role was replaced by Meenakshi Chaudhary. In February 2023, Ramya Krishna was selected to play a key role in the film. In March, Prakash Raj joined the cast to play Mahesh Babu's grandfather in the film. Later Jayaram joined the cast. In April, Jagapathi Babu was reported to play "a very endearing yet scary" character.

Filming

Principal photography commenced on 12 September 2022 with an action sequence in Annapurna Studios, Hyderabad. The first schedule, involving high-octane stunts choreographed by Anbariv duo, was later completed in the same month. However it was later confirmed by the producers that the fight was scrapped. The second schedule was planned to commence after Dussehra festivities in Ramoji Film City with Hegde joining the sets. The shooting was then halted with Trivikram making modifications to the script and converted the action thriller film into a "family entertainer".

The second schedule started on 18 January 2023 in Sarathi Studios, Hyderabad. Hegde joined the sets with filming taking place in Hyderabad. In February, team constructed a house set spending ₹10 crore at Shankarpalli, Telangana in Hyderabad. In March, Jayaram joined the sets. The second schedule was wrapped on 6 April. After shooting more than 50% of the film, the cinematographer of the film, P. S. Vinod, left, owing to creative differences. Following this development, Manoj Paramahamsa was announced as his replacement for the film. The third schedule began on 24 June. Principal photography wrapped on 28 December 2023.

Music

Thaman S. composed the soundtrack album and background score for the film, in his fifth collaboration with Babu after Dookudu (2011), Businessman (2012), Aagadu (2014), and Sarkaru Vaari Paata (2022); third collaboration with Trivikram after Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava (2018) and Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo (2020).