Red

Red is a 2021 Indian Telugu-language crime thriller film directed by Kishore Tirumala and produced by Sri Sravanthi Movies. It stars Ram Pothineni in a double role with Nivetha Pethuraj, Malvika Sharma and Amritha Aiyer. A remake of the Tamil film Thadam (2019), it follows a murder investigation involving a civil engineer and his lookalike as prime suspects. The film was announced in October, had its principal shoot commenced in November 2019 and ended in March 2020. Most of the film was shot in Hyderabad, except for two songs that were shot in Italy. Red has music composed by Mani Sharma while Sameer Reddy and Junaid Siddiquii performed the cinematography and editing, respectively. The film was released on 14 January 2021, coinciding with Sankranthi, after being delayed from its initial release date of 9 April 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film received mixed critical reviews. Plot Siddharth is an IIT graduated civil engineer running a successful building firm, while his lookalike, Aditya, is a gambling thief who deceives people along with his sidekick, Vema. Siddharth is in love with Mahima, while Gayathri loves Aditya, unaware of his real identity. One day, Aditya tries to help Vema pay his debt by extracting money from Gayathri through lies, but she helps him in spite of knowing the truth. After taking the money, Aditya is enraged, and so is Siddharth after a party. That night, one of them breaks into a house and attacks the owner, Akash, stabbing him to death. The next day, Aditya frees Vema by paying his debt and wins Gayathri's trust by returning her money and telling her the truth. As the investigation of Akash's murder proceeds, a selfie clicked by a couple nearby is found with either Siddharth or Aditya in it. Both of them are brought in and interrogated without knowledge of the other's presence. CI Nagendra, who shares an old rivalry with Siddharth, tortures him. Siddharth's alibi is that his car broke down, and as his car doesn't have the repair kit, he called a taxi driver to help him. Sub-inspector Yamini handles Aditya, who on the other hand, cites various laws to escape torture. She reaches out to Akash's friend and shows him the photograph of Siddharth/Aditya, but he refuses to recognize him. She also questions Vema and orders him not to leave the city without permission, but he secretly escapes.