Vikramarkudu

Plot

Athili Satthi Babu is a petty thief who operates alongside his maternal uncle, Duvva Abbulu, in Hyderabad. At a wedding, he meets Neeraja, a young woman residing in Devgarh, Madhya Pradesh. After a brief period of courtship, Neeraja falls in love with him. Satthi Babu confesses his criminal profession and promises to reform, but resolves to pull off one final, highly lucrative heist. At a railway station, Satthi Babu and Abbulu deceive a woman into parting with a large trunk and flee with it. Upon opening the trunk under the watchful eye of Inspector Mahanti, they are shocked to discover a young girl named Neha inside. Believing Satthi Babu to be her father, Neha refuses to leave his side. Mahanti forces a reluctant Satthi Babu to care for the child under police surveillance.

While examining Neha's belongings, Satthi Babu uncovers a portrait of her with her actual father, ASP Vikram Singh Rathore IPS—an uncompromising police officer who is Satthi Babu's doppelgänger. Concurrently, Rathore is in Hyderabad hunting down criminals when he suffers a severe, debilitating headache and collapses at a construction site. At the hospital, doctors reveal that Rathore is suffering from an advanced, terminal brain tumor, yet he remains deeply anxious to reunite with his daughter.

Initially resentful of his forced guardianship, Satthi Babu returns home intoxicated one evening and aggressively breaks Neha’s walkman. Upon waking the next morning, he finds her weeping because she can no longer listen to a recorded cassette of her deceased mother’s voice. Deeply remorseful, Satthi Babu repairs the device, an act that wins Neha's affection and melts his heart. He genuinely begins to care for her. However, complications arise when Neeraja and her parents overhear Neha addressing Satthi Babu as her father. Believing he has fathered a child and deceived her, a heartbroken Neeraja abruptly terminates their relationship. Shortly after, a ruthless pack of mercenaries ambushes Satthi Babu and Neha, mistaking the thief for his police officer lookalike.

Mahanti, Sub-Inspector Razia—the woman from whom the trunk was originally stolen—and several police officers arrive to intervene, but they are quickly overpowered by the assailants. Unexpectedly, a weakened Rathore arrives on the scene to protect his daughter and Satthi Babu. He single-handedly massacres the entire hit squad but sustains critical, near-fatal injuries in the process. While Rathore fights for his life in the intensive care unit, Mahanti narrates the officer's violent past to a stunned Satthi Babu and Abbulu.

Production

The shooting was disrupted by quarry workers who started pelting the film's unit with stones, damaging most of the equipment and injuring some of the film crew, including the director Rajamouli. The quarry workers were asked by the quarry manager to stop their work and leave the area for the shooting of particular scenes. What started as a small miff between the manager and the workers escalated with the workers showering stones, even as the film crew was leaving the quarry in their vehicles. The injured crew members were admitted to Apollo Hospital. Director Rajamouli suffered a hairline fracture to his hand. A formal complaint was lodged against the quarry workers and their owner. Rama Rajmouli used vibrant colors for the thief character of Teja while sober colors was used for his cop character.

Music

The audio of Vikramarkudu was launched at a function arranged in a set erected near Hitec city on the night of 31 May. K Raghavendra Rao launched the audio and gave the first unit to Y. V. S. Chowdary. Ramesh Prasad, B. Gopal and Gunnam Gangaraju were also invited as guests. The unit members who were present include M. L. Kumar Chowdary, Ravi Teja, Rajamouli, Anushka, Keeravani, Vijayendra Prasad, Brahmanandam, Rajiv Kanakala, Ajay, Rama Rajamouli, Ravindra, Sarvesh Murari, Ram Lakshman, M. Ratnam, Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao and Suresh Bujji. Suma anchored the event and Aditya Music bought audio rights.

The soundtrack received a very good response from the public as well as critics. The song "College Papala" (well known as Chinta Ta Chita Chita) was reused in all of the remakes except for Action Jasmine (2015).

Reception

Box office

The film was commercially successful and was one of the highest grossers of Telugu cinema in 2006. and a theatrical run of 100 days in 54 centres. Vikramarkudu earned a distributor share of ₹19 crore (equivalent to ₹67 crore or US$6.9 million in 2026). It became Ravi Teja's highest grossing film up until that point, surpassing Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi.

Critical response

It received positive reviews from critics. Idlebrain.com wrote, "On a whole, Vikramarkudu is another prospective blockbuster from the stable of Rajamouli". Totaltollywood wrote, "First half of the film goes in full entertainment mode. Second half gets into action part but the entertainment values are maintained at the same level.". Sify noted, "On the whole, Vikramarkudu is a masala entertainer and is OK timepass fare.". Nowrunning wrote, "Watching Vikramarkudu is like eating a plate of Mirchi Bhajji from the roadside pushcart.". Cinegoer said, "One thing is that Vikramarkudu never bores you. It will keep you glued to the screen, because so many things happen all the time and the narrative moves quickly.".

Other versions

It was remade twice in Bangladeshi Bengali as Ulta Palta 69 and Action Jasmine, in Kannada as Veera Madakari, in Tamil as Siruthai, in Hindi as Rowdy Rathore, and in Indian Bengali as Bikram Singha: The Lion Is Back.

Sequel

In September 2021, V. Vijayendra Prasad began writing the film's sequel, and Sampath Nandi entered into talks for directing it.