Aithe
Aithe... (transl. If so...) is a 2003 Indian Telugu-language thriller film written and directed by Chandra Sekhar Yeleti in his directorial debut, and produced by Gangaraju Gunnam under his studio Just Yellow. The film's lead cast mostly consists of debutants, including Mohit Chadda, Shashank, Abhishek, Janardhan, and Sindhu Tolani, while Pavan Malhotra plays a pivotal role. The film deals with underworld criminal nexus and hijacking. The film was shot simultaneously in Hindi as 50 Lakh (2007). Aithe was released on 11 April 2003. The film ran for a hundred days and was commercially successful. The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu that year, while Malhotra received the Nandi Special Jury Award and the Filmfare Best Villain Award (Telugu) for his performance. The film was remade in Tamil as Naam (2003) and in Malayalam as Wanted (2004).
| Aithe... | |
|---|---|
 Poster of the Telugu version | |
| Directed by | Chandra Sekhar Yeleti |
| Written by | Chandra Sekhar Yeleti |
| Produced by | Gangaraju Gunnam Venkat Dega |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | K. K. Senthil Kumar |
| Edited by | Sudhakar |
| Music by | Kalyani Malik |
Production company | |
Release dates |
|
| Country | India |
| Languages | Telugu Hindi |
Aithe... (transl. If so...) is a 2003 Indian Telugu-language thriller film[1] written and directed by Chandra Sekhar Yeleti in his directorial debut, and produced by Gangaraju Gunnam under his studio Just Yellow. The film's lead cast mostly consists of debutants, including Mohit Chadda, Shashank, Abhishek, Janardhan, and Sindhu Tolani, while Pavan Malhotra plays a pivotal role. The film deals with underworld criminal nexus and hijacking. The film was shot simultaneously in Hindi as 50 Lakh (2007).[2]
Aithe was released on 11 April 2003. The film ran for a hundred days and was commercially successful.[3][4] The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu that year, while Malhotra received the Nandi Special Jury Award and the Filmfare Best Villain Award (Telugu) for his performance. The film was remade in Tamil as Naam (2003) and in Malayalam as Wanted (2004).[5][6]
Plot
[edit]Irfan Khan is a key mafia affiliate in Mumbai. He is on the wanted list of criminals in Hyderabad with a bounty of ₹50 lakh. Aiming to migrate to Dubai so that he can remotely control the operations in Mumbai, Khan devises a plan of getting four of his own men to hijack a domestic flight from Hyderabad to Kathmandu (destined for Mumbai) in which he is a passenger. The Home Minister of Maharashtra is also on the flight, and the four men are to release all the passengers and concentrate on the Home Minister. From Kathmandu, he plans to go to Dubai.
For the hijack, he organizes a group of four intelligent men who are in dire need of money and who do not have a criminal record. The audience is made to believe in the beginning that the four central characters are these four men, but in fact, they kidnap Khan before the flight takes off, aiming to get the prize money.
They hide Khan in a forest and call the Assistant Commissioner of Police, who is a double agent for the mafia. When the ACP does not yield (as he wants them to release Khan), one of the four men, Kumar, makes a deal with the mafia and obtains a bag with ₹2 crore. However, the bag in which the money is kept contains a bomb. When Kumar tells the others that he has done this, they back out, and he joins with them, just in time.
Meanwhile, Khan's assistant, Musharraf, comes and takes Khan from the forest but is stopped by IB agent Zaheer Khan, who has been following the four men and Musharraf throughout.
Finally, the four friends come back to their house. They find a bag, which they had lost previously. With that, they find a note from Zaheer explaining everything. The bag also has, to their joy, their prize money.
Cast
[edit]- Mohit Chadda as Ramu
- Shashank as Kumar
- Janardhan as Shankar
- Abhishek as Vivek
- Sindhu Tolani as Aditi
- Pavan Malhotra as Irfan Khan
- Veerendra Chowhan as Musharraf
- Likhita as Kavitha
- Narsing Yadav as the Maharashtra home minister
- Sivaji Raja as Zaheer Khan
- C. V. L. Narasimha Rao as Vivek's father
- Ashok Kumar as Madan Seth
- Harsha Vardhan as Chotu
- Sanjay Raichura as an ACP
- Lalith Sharma as the IB chief
Production
[edit]The film marked the debut of Chandrasekhar Yeleti, Ravinder and K. K. Senthilkumar as director, art director and cinematographer respectively.[7][8]
Soundtrack
[edit]This album marked the debut of Kalyani Malik as a composer.[9] Despite having only one song, the audio launch was held at 21 May 2003 at Walden in Whisper Valley.[10]
| Aithe... | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | 2003 | |||
| Recorded | 2003 | |||
| Genre | Soundtrack | |||
| Length | 5:23 | |||
| Label | Surya Music | |||
| Producer | Kalyani Malik | |||
| Kalyani Malik chronology | ||||
| ||||
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Chitapata Chinukulu" | Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry | M. M. Keeravani | 5:23 |
| Total length: | 5:23 | |||
Reception
[edit]Idlebrain.com reviewer Jeevi rated the film 4/5 and appreciated Yeleti's screenplay and direction."This story is a very authentic story without any surrealism or traces of inspiration in it. Screenplay of 'Aithe' is terrific. The debutant director Chandra Sekhar Eleti proves himself as the new generation director with a good technical knowledge," he stated.[11]
Praveen Lance Fernandez of The Times of India reviewed the Hindi version 50 Lakh and gave it 2 stars. He wrote: "50 Lakh has nothing to offer mainly because of its shoe-string budget and bad performances. But from the plot and screenplay point of view, this one definitely scores over a lot of other recent films." Fernandez opined that had some of the performances been better, the film would have received better acclaim. "The south actors are clearly uncomfortable acting in a Hindi film," he added.[2]
Awards
[edit]- National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu - 2004[3]
- Nandi Award for Best Story Writer - Chandra Sekhar Yeleti[12]
- Nandi Award for Best Audiographer - Madhusudhan Reddy[13]
- Nandi Special Jury Award - Pavan Malhotra[14]
- Filmfare Best Villain Award (Telugu) - Pavan Malhotra[15][14]
Legacy
[edit]Mohit Chadda and Pavan Malhotra starred in the thriller film The Deal,[16] which was later renamed Aithe Enti after the success of this film.[17] A reboot titled Aithe 2.0 released in 2018.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Y. Sunita Chowdhary (25 January 2016). "Aithe 2.0: Thriller to the core". The Hindu. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
- ^ a b Fernandes, Praveen Lance (5 October 2007). "50 Lakh review". The Times of India. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
- ^ a b "The Hindu : Different strokes". Archived from the original on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
- ^ Jeevi; Aditya. "Interview with Gunnam Gangaraju - Anukokunda Oka Roju". Idlebrain.com. Archived from the original on 4 April 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
- ^ "Naam". Sify. 20 September 2003. Archived from the original on 4 December 2021.
- ^ "Wanted". Sify. 17 July 2004. Archived from the original on 18 August 2021.
- ^ "Senthil Kumar interview". Idlebrain. 20 August 2009. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
- ^ "R Ravinder interview". Idlebrain. 10 April 2007. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
- ^ Devi Dundoo, Sangeetha (22 February 2012). "Kalyani Malik comes a full circle with 'Check'". The Hindu.
- ^ "Audio function of 'Aithe'". Idlebrain. 21 May 2003. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
- ^ Jeevi (11 April 2003). "Telugu Cinema - Review - Aithe - Chandra Sekhar Eleti - Gangaraju Gunna - Kalyani Malik". Idlebrain.com.
- ^ "నంది అవార్డు విజేతల పరంపర (1964–2008)" [A series of Nandi Award Winners (1964–2008)] (PDF). Information & Public Relations of Andhra Pradesh. Retrieved 21 August 2020.(in Telugu)
- ^ "Nandi Awards 2003". idlebrain. 29 September 2004.
- ^ a b "Happy Birthday Pavan Malhotra: 5 Best Movies of the Versatile Actor". News18. 3 July 2021.
- ^ "51stFilmfareAwardsTeluguwinnersforBestSupportingVillaincomedianroles". 11 February 2025.
- ^ Jeevi (28 August 2003). "Muhurat of Deal". Idlebrain.
- ^ Jeevi (29 May 2004). "Movie review - Aithe Enti". Idlebrain.