Baanam

The story is set in the town of Ranasthali, in the year 1989. Bhagat Panigrahi is preparing to become an IPS officer. His father, Chandrasekhar Panigrahi, a former Naxalite, returns after 20 years before giving up his fight for the society because of his retirement. According to his ideology, at a certain time, every person wants to retire in their works. He became the first person who retired in naxalism. He comes back home and questions his son's ambition of becoming an IPS because his wife was killed by a policeman. Bhagath convinces him with his point of logic and gets the acceptance from his father. Meanwhile, a local don, Shakti Patnaik, is slowly building his empire, terrorizing police and anyone who opposes him.

One day, Bhagat meets Subbalakshmi, a naive married Brahmin girl at a railway station; she was abandoned by her in-laws because of insufficient dowry. Unable to pay the dowry, her father commits suicide, unknown to her. Then with the help of Bhagath, she starts a new life to become an independent women. One day her husband sends a message to her for a secret meeting, then Bhagath came with her to meet him; in that meeting, she ends her relationship with her husband. Then on the urge of taking revenge on her, her ex-husband takes the help of the dreaded gangster, Shakthi Patnaik, to abduct her, which triggers a series of events between Bhagat and Shakthi. After that, Bhagath proposes to Subbalakshmi for marriage she eventually accepts. Meanwhile, Bhagath manages to qualify in UPSC and is selected for training in the middle of the route. Shakthi and his gang interrupts him and severely injured him. Then angered Sr.panigrahi tries to kill Shakthi, but the attempt was missed and caught by Shakthi, then he kills him brutally. After knowing the facts, Bhagath decides to destroy Shakthi. He meets a senior IPS officer once who inspired Bhagath to become an IPS Officer in his childhood by asking trainees to stand up for the fight against the tyranny of Shakthi. Earlier, he refuses, and later, he accepts. Then all the gang attacks the gang members of Shakthi and his businesses with solid evidence. Then Shakthi tries to run away to Hyderabad. Bhagath and his gang came to arrest Shakthi along with the police then Bhagath catches Shakthi, and a fight ensues between them in the fight, Bhagath kills Shakthi.

After that, the trainees got their postings, and Bhagath is ready to go for his training in the police academy. The film ends with the line "a new chapter begins".

The music for the film has been composed by Mani Sharma. The audio was launched on 24 August 2009, and also present during the event were Shyam Prasad Reddy, industrialist Vasu. This was done with variety as five channels were taken for the coverage and biggies like N. Chandrababu Naidu, Dasari Narayana Rao, Nandamuri Balakrishna, Allu Aravind, Jr. NTR unveiled the audio CD and released one song each in each channel.[3]

A critic from Rediff.com wrote that "Baanam, sans the formulaic pattern, makes for a decent watch and such films have to be encouraged by the audience".[4] A critic from The Times of India wrote that "Debutant director Chaitanya deserves kudos for dishing out an intense cop film to give [sic] Tollywood’s latest debutants a clear edge over the rest".[5] Idlebrain.com review said - Nara Rohit delivers what is needed for the character. Vedhika did the role of a traditional Brahmin girl and she is apt.[6]

• The film was a moderate success at Box-office.[1]

• The film won Nandi Award for Second Best Feature Film won by Seshu Priyanka Chalasani (2009)[7]
• Nomination for Chaitanya Dantuluri, Filmfare Best Director Award (Telugu).

• Baanam at IMDb