General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Mathu Vadalara

Mathu Vadalara (Telugu: మథు వదలరా) is a 2019 Indian Telugu-language crime comedy thriller about a delivery boy whose low pay pushes him and his friends into a money-making scheme that spirals into criminal trouble. It was the feature debut of writer-director Ritesh Rana and stars Sri Simha Koduri, Satya, Naresh Agastya, and Athulya Chandra, with Vennela Kishore and Brahmaji in supporting roles. The film was produced by Chiranjeevi (Cherry) and Hemalatha Pedamallu under Clap Entertainment and presented by Mythri Movie Makers, and released in India on 25 December 2019.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Release	25 December 2019 (India), Telugu language, U/A certificate¹
Genre	Comedy, crime, thriller¹
Director	Ritesh Rana, in his feature debut²^•³
Lead cast	Sri Simha Koduri as Babu Mohan, Satya as Yesu Dasu, Naresh Agastya as Abhi, Athulya Chandra as Myrah⁴
Music	Kaala Bhairava, with cinematography by Suresh Sarangam and editing by Karthika Srinivas²
Budget	₹20 million (₹2 crore)⁵
Runtime	2 hours 10 minutes (130 minutes)⁶
Sequel	Mathu Vadalara 2 (2024), released theatrically 13 September 2024 and streaming on Netflix from 11 October 2024⁷

Spoilers

Plot

Babu (Sri Simha Koduri) is a delivery boy for an e-commerce portal, living in a ramshackle apartment in the Jubilee Hills slum with his friends Yesu (Satya) and Abhi (Naresh Agastya). Paid only one third of his actual salary by his boss, Babu decides to quit. Yesu, who earns about ₹100,000 (₹1 lakh) per month by duping his customers, convinces Babu to try a scheme of his own; the idea backfires and lands Babu deep in trouble, and the film follows his effort, with his friends' help, to prove his innocence.¹^•⁸ Director Ritesh Rana described the film as revolving around 12 characters, with the mystery of what happened, who committed the crime, and how the delivery boy came out of it forming the story.³

Sequel and franchise

A sequel, Mathu Vadalara 2, again written and directed by Rana with music by Kaala Bhairava, released in theaters on 13 September 2024 under Mythri Movie Makers. Sri Simha and Satya returned as former delivery agents turned special agents in the fictional HE Team, joined by Faria Abdullah, Sunil, Vennela Kishore, and Rohini. The HE Team's dress code and style drew on Bad Boys and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, genres Rana said are rare in Telugu cinema. The film began streaming on Netflix on 11 October 2024, in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada.⁷^•¹³^•¹⁴

Rana confirmed in September 2024 that a third film in the series is planned, but said he would direct a separate film first before returning to the franchise.¹⁵ He also revealed that he had originally planned a Hindi remake of the first film but ultimately dropped the idea.¹⁶

Development

Rana came to the film through a team of four friends who had been making short films for about ten years, covering their expenses with wedding photography work. In 2016 he secured a meeting with Cherry, the CEO of Mythri Movie Makers, who liked the script and, three months later, called him back to narrate it to others at Mythri; the team was then asked to return with the dialogue version and to do a demo shoot with the full cast before the project was approved.³

The title reveal took place on 17 October 2019, when the production houses announced "a very new age film with a team full of debutants". The poster showed an old television set with a screaming man, a broken clock, a calendar hinting the film is set in 2016, a poster of Johnny Gaddaar with "customer is god god is great" written on a wall, an unopened delivery bag, and a hint of blood.²

Casting. Sri Simha Koduri, the younger son of composer M. M. Keeravani, happened to be present during Rana's narration to Cherry; after auditions the team felt he fitted the lead, and Kaala Bhairava, Keeravani's elder son, was chosen as composer on Cherry's recommendation. Rana said the family members did not interfere in casting or story decisions.³ The film's title takes its name from a song in the 1966 mythological film Sri Krishna Pandaveeyam.⁵

Release and box office

The film released in India and Australia on 25 December 2019, in the United States on 24 December 2019, and in the United Arab Emirates on 1 January 2020.⁹^•¹⁰ Box Office Mojo records a worldwide gross of $7,035, all from international markets.¹¹ The film was made on a budget of about ₹20 million (₹2 crore)⁵, and Filmy Focus reports that it achieved box office success and favorable reviews.⁵

Reception

Professional reviews were positive on balance. The Times of India awarded 6/10 and called the film a decent and gripping thriller that would not waste the viewer's time; Firstpost gave 7/10, describing Rana's thriller as "a superb blend of suspense and comedy"; India Glitz gave 6/10 and called it a true-blue thriller-comedy with engagingly written characters.¹ Cinema Express rated it 3/5, praising it as a well-plotted new-age crime-comedy thriller packed with witty one-liners while noting a convoluted second hour and a flimsy climax; the review singled out Satya's deadpan turn as Yesu as a breakout performance and Kaala Bhairava's background score as lively.⁸ Audience ratings differ by platform: 8.2/10 from about 6,100 votes on IMDb and 7.8/10 from more than 44,000 votes on BookMyShow.⁶^•¹ The review aggregator Filmi computes a Filmi Score of 64 ("Good") from 7 critic reviews, with readings running from 48 (Telugu360) to 78 (Idlebrain).¹²

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Indian films (individual works) › Telugu films of the 2010s › Telugu films of 2017–2019

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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