Leader (2010 film)

Leader
File:Leader poster.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Sekhar Kammula
Produced by	M. Saravanan M. S. Guhan Aruna Guhan Aparna Guhan Avi Arad Steven Paul Michael De Luca Gary Foster
Written by	Sekhar Kammula
Starring	Rana Daggubati Priya Anand Richa Gangopadhyay Suman Suhasini Maniratnam Subbaraju
Music by	Mickey J Meyer
Cinematography	Vijay C. Kumar
Edited by	Marthand K Venkatesh
Production company	AVM Productions Crystal Sky Pictures Relativity Media
Distributed by	Geetha Arts
Release date	19 February 2010 (2010-02-19)
Running time	171 minutes
Country	India
Language	Telugu

Leader is a 2010 Indian Telugu-language political drama film written and directed by Sekhar Kammula and produced by AVM Productions, Crystal Sky Pictures and Relativity Media. It stars Rana Daggubati in his first lead role, with Priya Anand and Richa Gangopadhyay. The film, which featured music by Mickey J. Meyer, cinematography handled by Vijay C. Kumar and edited by Marthand K. Venkatesh, was released on 19 February 2010. The film is considered one of the "25 Greatest Telugu Films Of The Decade" by Film Companion.

Plot

This movie starts off with the assassination of Sanjeevayya (Suman), the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. His last wish is for his son Arjun Prasad (Rana Daggubati) to become the next Chief Minister. However, Arjun's cousin Dhanunjay (Subbaraju) has his own dreams of becoming the Chief Minister. Arjun is approached by Ali (Harsha Vardhan), who has given 10 crores to Sanjeevayya to resolve a land dispute in Ali's favour. Arjun finds about his father's corruption, and his mother Rajeswari Devi (Suhasini Maniratnam) validates it while sharing Sanjeevayya's desire for a casteless and corruption-less government. Arjun's uncle Mahadevayya (Kota Srinivasa Rao), whom he refers to as Peddaina (Sanjeevayya's elder brother), tolerates corruption as long as it helps his family stay in power. Arjun decides to implement his father's dream and enrolls Ali and a news reporter named Ratna (Priya Anand) to quietly win the support of his party's MLAs. Arjun bribes his way to win support from MLAs and ministers and is elected Chief Minister. An angry Dhanunjay attempts to assassinate Arjun and is asked to resign.

Arjun encounters resistance from his own party in his drive to eliminate corruption and plots to win the support of Alliance Party leader Munnuswami's (Ahuti Prasad) daughter Archana (Richa Gangopadhyay) by making her fall for him. His attempts to woo her are successful, and he saves his government while losing Archana's support when she realizes that she has been used. As a condition for Munnuswami's support, he lets an MLA's son go scot-free, even though the son was accused of raping and murdering of a young tribal girl. His mother Rajeswari Devi rebukes Arjun's move and warns the step as compromises that lead to corruption. That same night, she dies. Arjun resolves to go ahead with his corruption elimination drive and resigns the same evening while creating sensation in the media for exposing corruption.

Arjun wins the ensuing election after leaving his uncle's party and establishing a new party. His effort wins back Archana's support.

Cast

• Rana Daggubati as Arjun Prasad, a man who wants to become Chief Minister
• Priya Anand as Ratna Prabha, a news reporter whom Arjun sends to help him win the support of his party's MLAs
• Richa Gangopadhyay as Archana Prasad, a TV channel reporter
• Suman as CM Sanjeevayya, Arjun's father who gets assassinated
• Suhasini Maniratnam as Rajeswari Devi, Arjun's mother
• Subbaraju as Dhanunjay, Arjun's cousin who attempts to assassinate him
• Kota Srinivasa Rao as Mahadevayya (Peddayana), Arjun's uncle and Sanjeevayya's elder brother
• Rao Ramesh as Mavayya, Arjun's uncle
• Ahuti Prasad as Munnuswami, Archana's father and the Alliance Party leader
• Tanikella Bharani as Chief Secretary Sharma
• Harsha Vardhan as Ali, Arjun's personal secretary
• Gollapudi Maruti Rao
• Narsing Yadav
• Rani Rudrama
• Shatru
• Vai Sista in a cameo role
• Udaya Bhanu as item number "Rajashekara"

Critical reception

Leader opened to rave reviews from critics. The Times Of India gave a three star rating noting "Another lineage star Rana Daggubati takes his first bow at the Box Office with an inspiring political saga, he puts in a surprisingly mature performance (for a debutant) and shines in his role of a savvy young CEO of a US-based company who turns a conniving politician with effortless ease."

Radhika Rajamani from Rediff also gave a three star rating and said "The film is a relevant take on contemporary politics in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Performance-wise, Sekhar scores. His choice Suhasini as Arjun's mother is good. She brings grace and dignity to her role. An impressive debut, indeed. Richa Gangopadhyay looks pretty and charming. Harshavardhan (who plays Ali) and Priya Anand (Ratna Prabha) are competent in their roles. Mickey J Meyer's music is good too."

Sify explains "The technical aspects of the film are highly impressive with superb cinematography, excellent music and terrific background score. The first half is gripping, giving some promising moments to the audience. But, the second half slips into monotony thanks to the slipshod treatment to the political subject." However it praised the lead performances, saying "Rana has certainly lived up to the expectations of the audiences with his looks and thoroughly trained histrionics."

Soundtrack

The soundtrack has music composed by Mickey J. Meyer. The music was released on 22 November 2009.

Leader
Soundtrack album by Mickey J. Meyer
Released	22 November 2009 (2009-11-22)
Recorded	2009
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	31:26
Label	Aditya Music
Producer	Mickey J. Meyer
Mickey J. Meyer chronology
Ganesh (2009) Leader (2009) Maro Charitra (2010)

Track list
No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Maa Telugu Thalliki"	Tanguturi Suryakumari	4:56
2.	"Aunana Kaadana"	Naresh Iyer, Shweta Pandit	5:13
3.	"Vandemataram"	Nakash Aziz	3:50
4.	"Rajasekhara"	Shweta Pandit	5:29
5.	"Hey CM"	Sunitha Sarathy	5:16
6.	"Sreelu Pongina"	Krishna Chaithanya, Siddharth, Kranthi, Sashi Kiran & Aditya	3:18
7.	"Leader Theme" (Instrumental)		3:24
Total length:			31:26

External links

• Leader on IMDb
• Leader telugu full movie in ZEE5 . https://www.zee5.com/movies/details/leader/0-0-234177