Leader (2010 film)

Leader is a 2010 Indian Telugu-language political drama film written and directed by Sekhar Kammula, and produced by AVM Productions. It stars debutant Rana Daggubati alongside Richa Gangopadhyay, Priya Anand, Suhasini Maniratnam, Suman, and Subbaraju. The plot follows Arjun Prasad (Daggubati) who becomes the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh succeeding his deceased father and his struggle to fight the corruption plaguing the political system.

Leader
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySekhar Kammula
Written byRutwik Pavan
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyVijay C. Kumar
Edited byMarthand K Venkatesh
Music byMickey J. Meyer
Production
company
Distributed byGeetha Arts
Release date
  • 19 February 2010 (2010-02-19)
Running time
171 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTelugu

The film features music by Mickey J. Meyer with cinematography by Vijay C. Kumar and editing by Marthand K. Venkatesh. It was released on 19 February 2010 to rave reviews. Leader is listed among the "25 Greatest Telugu Films Of The Decade" by Film Companion.[1] It was remade in Hindi as Youngistaan.

Plot

The film begins with the assassination of Sanjeevayya, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. His last wish is that his son Arjun Prasad should succeed him as the next Chief Minister. However, Arjun's cousin Dhanunjay has aims to become the Chief Minister instead. Arjun is approached by Ali, 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 validates it while sharing Sanjeevayya's desire for a casteless and corruption-less government. Arjun's uncle (Sanjeevayya's elder brother) Mahadevayya, whom he refers to as Peddaina, tolerates corruption as long as it helps his family stay in power. Arjun decides to fulfill his father's dream and enrolls Ali to quietly win the support of his party's MLAs and news reporter Ratna Prabha joins them. Arjun bribes his way to win support from MLAs and ministers and is elected Chief Minister by them. An angry Dhanunjay attempts to assassinate Arjun and is asked to resign from his ministerial post.

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 daughter Archana by making her fall for him. His attempts to woo her are successful, and he saves his government, while Archana parts away from him upon realizing that she has been used as a ploy. 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

Critical reception

Leader opened to rave reviews from critics. A The Times of India critic gave three stars of five, 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."[2]

Radhika Rajamani from Rediff.com 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. Harsha Vardhan (who plays Ali) and Priya Anand (Ratna Prabha) are competent in their roles. Mickey J. Meyer's music is good too."[3]

A reviewer from 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."[4]

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
Released22 November 2009 (2009-11-22)
Recorded2009
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length31:26
LabelAditya Music
ProducerMickey J. Meyer
Mickey J. Meyer chronology
Ganesh
(2009)		 Leader
(2009)		 Maro Charitra
(2010)
Track list
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Maa Telugu Thalliki"Sankarambadi SundarachariTanguturi Suryakumari4:56
2."Aunana Kaadana"VeturiNaresh Iyer, Shweta Pandit5:13
3."Vandemataram"VeturiNakash Aziz3:50
4."Rajasekhara"VeturiShweta Pandit5:29
5."Hey CM"VeturiSunitha Sarathy5:16
6."Sreelu Pongina"Rayaprolu Subba RaoKrishna Chaithanya, Siddharth, Kranthi, Sashi Kiran & Aditya3:18
7."Leader Theme" (Instrumental)  3:24
Total length:31:26

References
  1. "25 Greatest Telugu Films Of The Decade | Film Companion". www.filmcompanion.in. Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  2. "Leader movie review: Wallpaper, Story, Trailer at Times of India". The Times of India. Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  3. "Review: Leader comes at the right time – Rediff.com Movies". Movies.rediff.com. 19 February 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  4. "Movie Review : Leader". Sify. Archived from the original on 25 March 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
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