Pelli Choopulu
Pelli Choopulu (transl. Matchmaking) is a 2016 Indian Telugu-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Tharun Bhascker and produced by Raj Kandukuri and Yash Rangineni. It features Vijay Deverakonda and Ritu Varma in the lead roles. Partly based on a real-life incident of "Spitfire BBQ" food truck, the film revolves around a boy and a girl who meet during match-making. How their aspirations bring them together forms the rest of the story. The film was released worldwide on 29 July 2016 to positive reviews from critics and became a commercial blockbuster. The film provided breakthrough for the film's cast and crew. It is considered one of the "25 Greatest Telugu Films Of The Decade" by Film Companion. The film won two National Film Awards–Best Telugu Film and Best Screenplay, two Andhra Pradesh State Nandi Awards–Best Feature Film and Best Actress, Telangana State Gaddar Film Awards for Second Best Feature Film, and two Filmfare Awards South including Best Telugu Film. The film was remade in Hindi as Mitron (2018), in Malayalam as Vijay Superum Pournamiyum (2019) and in Tamil as Oh Manapenne! (2021).
| Pelli Choopulu | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Tharun Bhascker |
| Written by | Tharun Bhascker |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Nagesh Banell |
| Edited by | Ravi Teja Girijala |
| Music by | Vivek Sagar |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by |
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Release date |
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Running time | 118 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Telugu |
| Budget | ₹60 lakh–₹1.2 crore[2][3][4] |
| Box office | est. ₹30 crore[5] |
Pelli Choopulu (transl. Matchmaking) is a 2016 Indian Telugu-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Tharun Bhascker and produced by Raj Kandukuri and Yash Rangineni. It features Vijay Deverakonda and Ritu Varma in the lead roles. Partly based on a real-life incident of "Spitfire BBQ" food truck,[6] the film revolves around a boy and a girl who meet during match-making. How their aspirations bring them together forms the rest of the story.
The film was released worldwide on 29 July 2016 to positive reviews from critics and became a commercial blockbuster.[7][8] The film provided breakthrough for the film's cast and crew. It is considered one of the "25 Greatest Telugu Films Of The Decade" by Film Companion.[9]
The film won two National Film Awards–Best Telugu Film and Best Screenplay, two Andhra Pradesh State Nandi Awards–Best Feature Film and Best Actress, Telangana State Gaddar Film Awards for Second Best Feature Film, and two Filmfare Awards South including Best Telugu Film.[10][11] The film was remade in Hindi as Mitron (2018), in Malayalam as Vijay Superum Pournamiyum (2019) and in Tamil as Oh Manapenne! (2021).[12]
Plot
[edit]Prasanth goes to Chitra's house for a matchmaking event. He is a guy who completes his B.Tech by clearing many subjects for almost 5 years, but he is also lazy and incapable of doing any work. His dream is to become a chef and open a restaurant, but he does not get any support from his father. Chitra is a very focused girl who works hard to fulfil her dreams of going to Australia. However, her father shows no interest, as she is a girl. When both of them meet at the matchmaking event her younger cousin, Subhash, accidentally locks the door which jams very often and they get stuck eventually. To pass time, they talk about their past.
Chitra reveals that she was in love with a North Indian guy named Vikram. They both wanted to start a food truck business. Vikram went to Delhi to talk with his father about their love and business. Meanwhile, Chitra started her plan eagerly, and was ready to surprise Vikram by buying the truck. Then things went wrong and Vikram did not come back, overpowered by greed of getting dowry. Chitra and her father waited for him but when they realised Vikram wasn't coming back, her father decided to get her married to someone else.
On his turn, Prasanth reveals that he was unemployed and always went out with his two friends. He, along with his friends, made cooking videos, as he is passionate about cooking. But it wasn't profitable enough, so they planned to make prank videos and were caught red-handed by Prashant's father, which ended their plan. He then got a job in a call centre after he was recommended by his father. He started going out with a girl to show off to his friends, but she cheated on him. He found out about it only when her second boyfriend called him at work, and quit his job after having a fight with his boss.
It is then revealed that Prasanth came to the wrong address for his matchmaking event. Later, Prasanth goes to his actual matchmaking event, which was with a rich family. Meanwhile, Chitra tells the guy coming to her matchmaking event that she's not interested in marriage. The family of Prasanth's bride wanted him to be able to run a business, so he and Chitra decide to operate the food truck themselves, with Prasanth as the chef, and Chitra in charge of the business side of things. At first, they face many difficulties, mainly through Prasanth's and his friends' laziness as well as fighting with Chitra and giving up the food truck.
Prasanth visits Chitra's house and informs her father that he should be proud to have such a responsible daughter. He also claims that if he ever gets a child, he would wish to have a daughter like Chitra and insists that her father let her pursue her dreams. Chitra understands Prasanth's good nature and later convinces his father that he is a natural cook by cooking them Prasanth's recipe. They kickstart their business with the support from both their parents. After this, their food truck becomes a smashing success. In the process, they fall in love without realising it, but both of them are engaged to other people, so they drift apart. After realising they love each other, they come back together through a radio show organised by their friend, with the support of their family and friends.
Cast
[edit]- Vijay Deverakonda as Prashanth
- Ritu Varma as Chitra
- Priyadarshi Pulikonda as Kaushik
- Abhay Bethiganti as Vishnu
- Nandu as Vikram
- Anish Kuruvilla as Businessman
- Kedar Shankar as Prashanth's father
- Khenisha Chandran as Richa
- Yogi Khathri as Event Manager
- Padmaja Lanka as Satya, Prashanth's mother
- Gururaj Manepalli as Chitra's father
- Sujata Gosukonda as Chitra's mother
- Anisha Alla as Prashanth's ex-girlfriend
- Keshav Deepak as Prashanth's Boss
Production
[edit]Development
[edit]After making numerous short films, Tharun Bhascker made his directorial debut with this film.[2] According to Tharun, Pelli Choopulu "is a very urban comedy set in a middle class in Hyderabad. It shows the contrast between the old and young generations and the comedy of errors that can happen within the space."[13] Tharun had this basic idea of two contrasting personalities meeting for match-making, both getting stuck in a room is a metaphor for dating while food truck is a metaphor for live-in relationship.[2]
Casting
[edit]Ritu Verma who earlier worked in Tharun's Anukokunda was selected as lead actress while Vijay Deverakonda, who portrayed a supporting role in Yevade Subramanyam (2015), made his debut as lead actor with this film.[14] Vijay agreed to do this role as he found it "realistically very lazy" and "so close to my heart because young attitude, irresponsible behaviour was a part of my personal life".[15]
Filming
[edit]Tharun shot the entire film in sync sound as he feels it offers freedom for artists to improvise their dialogues. The sync sound equipment, from Mumbai, that was used for Gangs of Wasseypur was used for this film.[13] The filming was completed within 35 days.[15]
Distribution and Box-office
[edit]The film's budget was ₹60 lakh to 1.2 crore.[2][3][4] The producer had spent another ₹60 lakh on its promotion. D. Suresh Babu acquired the theatrical rights for an amount of ₹1.50 crore and released it under his banner Suresh Productions across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.[3]
The film collected over ₹5 crore gross at the AP/TG box office in its opening week. In five weeks, the film has grossed over ₹30 crore.[5] The film's theatrical rights in the US had been bought for $200,000 and it went on to gross over $1.22 million, making it the biggest overseas hit in terms of return on investment.[5][16][17]
Gemini TV had acquired its satellite rights for an amount of ₹2.35 crore.[3]
Themes and influences
[edit]Tharun followed character arcs from Knocked Up (directed by Judd Apatow). For the food truck business thread, Tharun revealed he drew inspirations from films like 100 foot journey and Chef.[2]
Soundtrack
[edit]| Pelli Choopulu | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album to Pelli Choopulu by Vivek Sagar | ||||
| Released | 29 July 2016 | |||
| Recorded | 2016 | |||
| Studio | Tapeloop | |||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | |||
| Length | 19:18 | |||
| Language | Telugu | |||
| Label | Madhura Audio | |||
| Producer | Vivek Sagar | |||
| Vivek Sagar chronology | ||||
| ||||
This film has six songs composed by Vivek Sagar and lyrics are written by Rahul Ramakrishna, Shreshta, Shri, & Nikhil Bharadwaj. Music released on Madhura Audio.
Vivek Sagar earlier composed music for Tharun Bhascker's short film Sainma, he revealed that the film's music was conceived only after the film was shot.[18] "With no lip sync songs, the music blended in with the narrative", he said.[19]
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Artist(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Ee Babu Gariki" | Rahul Ramakrishna | Sooraj Santhosh | 3:10 |
| 2. | "Chinuku Taake" | Shreshta | Amritavarshini KC | 4:38 |
| 3. | "Raalu Raaga Poolamala" | Rahul Ramakrishna, Shri | Shri, Wilson Herald | 3:23 |
| 4. | "Merise Merise" | Shreshta | Haricharan, Pranavi Acharya | 5.04 |
| 5. | "Aanandamayenu" | Instrumental | Tejas Mallela (violin), Ranjani Sivakumar (singer) | 1:41 |
| 6. | "Spitfire Friends" | Nikhil Bharadwaj | Nikhil Bharadwaj | 3:22 |
| Total length: | 19:18 | |||
Accolades
[edit]Remakes
[edit]Pelli Choopulu was remade in Hindi as Mitron (2018),[29] in Malayalam as Vijay Superum Pournamiyum (2019),[30] and in Tamil as Oh Manapenne! (2021).[31] A Kannada remake Shaadi Bhagya with Gurunandan and Shraddha Srinath in the lead was being planned as of 2017.[32]
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "D.Suresh babu presents "Pelli Choopulu" Releasing on July 29th". Idlebrain.com. 17 July 2016. Archived from the original on 24 September 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
- ^ a b c d e "Post mortem – Pelli Choopulu by Tharun Bhascker – Telugu cinema news". idlebrain.com. Archived from the original on 1 February 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
- ^ a b c d Hooli, Shekhar H. (7 August 2016). "Salman Khan to watch 'Pelli Choopulu' at special screening; is he planning to remake it in Hindi?". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 29 June 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
- ^ a b "Pellichoopulu 50-days run: Director Tharun Bhascker shares his success story". The Indian Express. 17 September 2016. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
- ^ a b c Sudhir, TS (4 September 2016). "Why The Success Of 'Pelli Choopulu' Is Great News For Telugu Cinema". HuffPost. Archived from the original on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
- ^ Pasha, Gouse. "Meet The Real-Life Couple Who Inspired The Lead Characters Of Pelli Choopulu!". Chai Bisket. Archived from the original on 27 January 2020. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
- ^ "'Pelli Choopulu' review: A Refreshing and realistic love story". The New Indian Express. 29 July 2016. Archived from the original on 1 October 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
- ^ "Pelli Choopulu review: A gem of a film". The Hindu. 29 July 2016. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
- ^ "25 Greatest Telugu Films Of The Decade". Film Companion. Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
- ^ "Nani and Jr NTR bag top honours at SIIMA-2017 | Telugu Movie News". The Times of India. 1 July 2017. Archived from the original on 11 November 2017. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
- ^ "64th National Film Awards" (PDF) (Press release). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 June 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
- ^ "Gaddar Telangana Film Awards: Adivi Sesh Thanks Telangana Government For Honouring Major, Expresses Gratitude To Mahesh Babu". Times Now. 30 May 2025.
- ^ a b Chowdhary, Y. Sunita (1 December 2015). "After short films, Tarun Bhasker to direct a feature". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 6 May 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
- ^ "From YouTube to 70MM". The Hans India. 30 April 2016. Archived from the original on 20 October 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
- ^ a b "Interview with Vijay Devarakonda about Pelli Choopulu – Telugu cinema actor". idlebrain.com. Archived from the original on 30 April 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
- ^ "Pelli Choopulu box office collection: Telugu indie film mints Rs 6 cr in US". India Today. 21 August 2016. Archived from the original on 27 July 2022. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
- ^ Hooli, Shekhar H. (27 September 2016). "Pelli Choopulu US box office collection: Vijay-Ritu's film grosses $1.22 million in 59 days". IBTimes. Archived from the original on 27 July 2022. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
- ^ Dundoo, Sangeetha Devi (11 September 2017). "Vivek Sagar: Career not driven by an agenda". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
- ^ Nadadhur, Srivathsan (27 July 2016). "Eclecticism, his signature". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 21 December 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
- ^ "Nominations for the 64th Jio Filmfare Awards (South)". Filmfare. 8 June 2017. Archived from the original on 4 July 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
- ^ "Winners of the 64th Jio Filmfare Awards (South)". Filmfare. 17 June 2017. Archived from the original on 16 April 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
- ^ "IIFA Utsavam 2017 Telugu nomination list: Janatha Garage, Oopiri get most nods". International Business Times. 14 March 2017. Archived from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ "IIFA Utsavam: Complete winner's list". The Indian Express. 30 March 2017. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
- ^ "Nandi Film Awards G.O and Results 2016". APFTVTDC. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
- ^ "64th National Film Awards 2017" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 July 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
- ^ "SIIMA Nominations: Theri, Janatha Garage, Maheshinte Prathikaram and Kirik Party lead". The Indian Express. 31 May 2017. Archived from the original on 5 July 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
- ^ "SIIMA Awards 2017 Telugu winners list: Jr NTR and Rakul Preet Singh declared best actors". International Business Times. 2 July 2017. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
- ^ "Gaddar Telangana Film Awards from 2014 to 2023 announced". The Hindu. 30 May 2025.
- ^ "'Mitron' movie review: A hit and a miss kind of film". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 9 September 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
- ^ "Vijay Superum Pournamiyum review: A watchable romantic comedy". Sify. Archived from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
- ^ Aiyappan, Ashameera (22 October 2021). "Oh Manapenney movie review: Harish Kalyan, Priya Bhavanishankar lead a faithful remake". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
- ^ "Pelli Choopulu is Shaadi Bhagya in sandalwood". The Times of India. 22 February 2017. Archived from the original on 24 February 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2024.