General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Narasimha Naidu (నరసింహ నాయుడు)

Narasimha Naidu (నరసింహ నాయుడు) is a 2001 Indian Telugu-language action drama film directed by B. Gopal, produced by M. V. Murali Krishna, and starring Nandamuri Balakrishna, Simran, and Preeti Jhangiani, with music composed by Mani Sharma.¹ It was released on 11 January 2001 and became one of the highest-grossing Telugu films of its time, winning Balakrishna the Nandi Award for Best Actor.²

Key fact	Detail
Release	11 January 2001 (India), Telugu language²
Director / producer	B. Gopal; M. V. Murali Krishna, Sri Venkataramana Productions³
Writer / dialogue	Story and screenplay by Chinni Krishna; dialogues by Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao and Gopalakrishna Paruchuri²
Music	Mani Sharma¹
Lead cast	Nandamuri Balakrishna (Narasimha Naidu), Simran (Sravani), Preeti Jhangiani (Anjali), Mukesh Rishi (Kuppi Swamy Naidu), K. Viswanath (Raghupathi Naidu)²
Awards	Nandi Award for Best Actor (Balakrishna); Filmfare nominations for Best Actor and Best Actress⁴
Other versions	Remade in Tamil as Ezhumalai; dubbed into Hindi as Sabse Bada Jungbaaz⁵

Spoilers

Story

The film is set against a feud between two neighboring villages, one headed by a good man and the other by a bad one.² Narasimha (Balakrishna) lives as an unassuming dance teacher raising a young child on his own after his wife is killed in the village enmity.⁶ Anjali (Preeti Jhangiani), the niece of a goon from the rival village, falls in love with him at first sight and joins his natya ashram as a student, and his true identity and violent past begin to unravel as former enemies interrupt his quiet new life.⁷^•⁸

Production

Chinni Krishna wrote the story and screenplay; it was his first film in Telugu.⁹ The Paruchuri brothers wrote the dialogue. According to a retrospective account, Gopalakrishna Paruchuri, one of the brothers, wrote the line "Kathulathu kaaadu kanti chooputho champestha" era dialogue while imagining N. T. Rama Rao, and Chinni Krishna predicted after hearing it that the film would run 300 days.⁹ The same account credits the casting of K. Viswanath, a respected filmmaker-actor, as the heroine's father figure Raghupathi Naidu as a deliberate choice: writer Chinni Krishna argued that audiences would feel anger when a villain put his foot on the chest of a dignified figure like Viswanath rather than a conventional villain actor, and that this anger would strengthen the film.¹⁰

During editing, 17,000 feet of footage reportedly came in and long scenes had to be cut, moving the interval point from a railway-station sequence involving 30 Tata Sumos to the Balakrishna–Simran wedding scene.¹⁰

Release and box office

Narasimha Naidu was released on 11 January 2001 for the Sankranti festival, the same day as Chiranjeevi's Mrugaraju and one day before Venkatesh's Devi Putrudu, and it outperformed both to become the festival winner.²^•¹⁰

Reported commercial figures differ by source and metric. TV9 Telugu states the film was made on a budget of ₹60 million (₹6 crore) and grossed ₹250 million (₹25 crore), calling it the first Telugu film to gross ₹250 million (₹25 crore).¹⁰ IMDb user trivia gives around ₹380 million (₹38 crore) gross with a distributor share of ₹217.5 million (₹21.75 crore).² The Google Play listing cites a gross of ₹400 million (₹40 crore) on a budget of ₹60 million to 90 million (₹6 to 9 crore).¹¹ Telugu Rajyam reports a share above ₹200 million (₹20 crore) and total collections of ₹300 million (₹30 crore).¹² What the sources agree on is that the film set Telugu industry records: TV9 calls it the first film in South India to run 100 days in 100 centers,¹⁰ while Telugu Rajyam puts the record as the first Telugu film to run 100 days in 105 centers.¹² Oneindia credits it as the first Telugu film to collect ₹200 million (₹20 crore), following Chiranjeevi's Gharana Mogudu, which had first crossed ₹100 million (₹10 crore).¹³

Reception and legacy

Balakrishna won the Nandi Award for Best Actor for the film, and the film received Filmfare Award South nominations for Best Actor (Balakrishna) and Best Actress (Simran).⁴ Viewer ratings on aggregators have remained favorable: IMDb lists 7.0/10 from about 1,100 votes,² and BookMyShow shows 9.7/10 from over 3,700 votes.¹⁴ Letterboxd reviewers commonly describe it as typical faction cinema and single out Mani Sharma's songs and background score.¹⁵

The film was remade in Tamil as Ezhumalai starring Arjun Sarja and Simran, and dubbed into Hindi as Sabse Bada Jungbaaz.⁵ For Balakrishna's 64th birthday in 2023, a 4K-restored version was re-released worldwide in a planned 750 to 1,000 theaters; director B. Gopal said at the time that the film was still remembered for its emotional and action scenes and Mani Sharma's music.¹⁶ The film is available on streaming services including Sun NXT and Eros Now.⁸

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 2000s

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

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