Student No. 1 (స్టూడెంట్ నంబర్ 1)
Student No. 1 (స్టూడెంట్ నంబర్ 1) is a 2001 Indian Telugu-language coming-of-age action drama directed by S. S. Rajamouli in his feature-film debut, starring N. T. Rama Rao Jr. as Aditya, a young man serving a life sentence who attends a law college in Visakhapatnam with special permission from the jail authorities.1 • 2 It was produced by K. Raghavendra Rao and C. Aswini Dutt on the Swapna Cinema banner and released on 27 September 2001.3 The film was a commercial success and launched both the director and its lead actor, beginning a Rajamouli–NTR partnership that later produced Simhadri, Yamadonga, and RRR.4
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 27 September 2001, with 40 prints in circulation, a modest release by the standards of bigger Telugu productions at the time5 |
| Debut status | S. S. Rajamouli's first feature film as director; NTR Jr's second film as lead hero, after Ninnu Choodalani6 |
| Production | Swapna Cinema, a banner established by Aswini Dutt and K. Raghavendra Rao, named after Dutt's daughter; Student No. 1 was its first film3 |
| Budget and returns | Budget reported as Rs 18 million (Rs 1.8 crore) by the Indian Express and Rs 18.5 million (Rs 1.85 crore) by Google Play; the Indian Express reports Rs 220 million (Rs 22 crore) earned at the box office, while a trade-tracking site records 120.9 million (12.09 crore) collected at the Telugu box office5 • 2 • 7 |
| Music | Composed by M. M. Keeravani, Rajamouli's cousin; the song Sakkubai became a significant chartbuster5 |
| Reception | IMDb rating 6.6/10 from about 2,500 votes; runtime 2h 10m (130 minutes)8 |
| Remake | Remade in Tamil as Student Number 12 |
Spoilers
Plot
Aditya lives in Hyderabad with his parents and has finished his intermediate studies. He wants to pursue engineering, but his father wants him to study law, and the disagreement leads to a confrontation. Before it is resolved, Aditya steps in to stop a goon from assaulting a girl and unintentionally kills the man. The girl and her father deny the incident, Aditya is sentenced to life imprisonment, and his father disowns him.9
The film then moves to a law college in Visakhapatnam, notorious for its unruly students headed by Satya (Rajeev Kanakala). Aditya attends the college with special permission from the jail authorities, carrying a secret nobody around him knows.1 • 5 The first half keeps his past hidden behind flashbacks and shows him reforming the students; the interval reveals that he is a convict serving a life term in Vizag Central Jail.1 A sympathetic jail superintendent, played by Tanikella Bharani, extends help, and the second half follows Aditya's effort to win back his father with the law degree he earns.9 A parallel villain, played by Kota Srinivasa Rao, bribes officers to obtain entrance-exam question papers such as EAMCET and sells them for profit, with Aditya's father, a custodian of those papers, standing in the way.10
Production
Rajamouli entered the film industry as an editing assistant and worked under director Kranthi Kumar before his apprenticeship under K. Raghavendra Rao, under whom he directed Telugu soap operas on ETV, eventually taking charge of the serial Santhi Nivasam.5 In 2001, Raghavendra Rao handed Rajamouli a script and told him to direct it, supervising the direction himself; Rajamouli realized on set that he had never operated a crane during all his years of assisting.5 The story and dialogues are credited to Prithvi Raj (also spelled Pruthvi Teja), with screenplay by Raghavendra Rao, cinematography by Hari Anumolu, and editing by Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao.1 Shooting took place at Visakhapatnam.11
Casting. NTR Jr had not established himself with his debut film Ninnu Choodalani; Raghavendra Rao spotted his mass appeal and built Student No. 1 around it, at a time when other young heroes were making love stories.3 The heroine had entered Telugu cinema as "Raaji" with the flop Naalo Vunna Prema and changed her name to Gajala with this film.3 The supporting cast included Brahmanandam, Ali, Kota Srinivasa Rao, M. S. Narayana, Tanikella Bharani, L. B. Sriram, and Sudha.8
Music
The soundtrack was composed by M. M. Keeravani, Rajamouli's cousin, with lyrics by Chandra Bose; it was the first of an unbroken run of collaborations between the two that has continued through every Rajamouli film since, up to "Naatu Naatu", which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 95th Oscars in 2023.5 Songs were sung by Udit Narayan, Tippu, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. S. Chitra, and Keeravani himself.12 The song audiences remembered most was Sakkubai, a significant chartbuster in its time.5
Box office and aftermath
The film was a hit. Idlebrain's trade listing ranked it the seventh blockbuster of 2001, noting it as a very big hit in Andhra, Uttarandhra, and Ceded areas and a moderate hit in Nizam.3 The Indian Express reports that against its Rs 18 million (Rs 1.8 crore) production budget it earned Rs 220 million (Rs 22 crore) at the box office, roughly twelve times its cost.5 A trade-tracking account records 120.9 million (12.09 crore) collected at the Telugu box office against 27 million (2.7 crore) of theatrical business, registering the film as a blockbuster; Google Play's description gives a distributors' share of Rs 120 million (Rs 12 crore).7 • 2 The figures differ because they measure different things (gross versus distributors' share) and come from different trackers, so no single total is settled.
The success changed both careers. It established NTR as a mass star, and he was soon signed for a film with B. Gopal, while A. M. Ratnam announced the mass film Naga with him.3 Rajamouli followed it with Simhadri (2003), the film on which he says his own mark first showed.6 The pair went on to make Simhadri, Yamadonga, and RRR together.4
Retrospective view
Rajamouli has been candid about the film's craft. He credited its success largely to Prithvi Teja's script and Keeravani's music, said NTR was still a budding actor, and called his own direction "very amateurish at its best, with the exception of the interval sequence maybe".6 He also recalled the film's victory tour, during which crowds, including older audiences, thronged to see the 19-year-old NTR.13 Contemporary reviews rated the film 3.25 out of 5 on Idlebrain, praising Keeravani's music and the mass action scenes while noting Raghavendra Rao's influence on the song picturizations.1 The film is remembered as a coming-of-age action entertainer in Telugu cinema, and fans marked its anniversaries on social media years after release.12
References
- Idlebrain, Jeevi review of Student No. 1 (2001)
- Student No: 1, Google Play Movies description
- Idlebrain, "Number Seventh Blockbuster of the year 2001 - Student No.1"
- The Daily Pioneer, Hyderabad edition, 28 September 2019
- The Indian Express, "Jr NTR-SS Rajamouli risked it all on a Rs 1.8 cr college film with no safety net; earned it back 12x"
- TeluguCinema.com, "S S Rajamouli turns nostalgic about Student No.1" (Jalapathy Gudelli, 27 September 2016)
- Entertainment 24x7, "Student No 1 collections"
- IMDb, Student No. 1 (2001)
- Moviebuff, Student No 1 (2001)
- Idlebrain, Gudipoodi Srihari review of Student No. 1
- Idlebrain news archive, 25 July 2001
- The Times of India, "#19YearsForStudentNo1: Fans celebrate as they revisit classic"
- International Business Times India, "15 years of Student No. 1 release: SS Rajamouli opens up on why he 'curses' Jr NTR"
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 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026
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