Eega

Eega
Film poster
Directed by	S S Rajamouli
Written by	S S Rajamouli Janardhan Maharshi
Produced by	Korrapati Ranganatha Sai
Starring	Sudeep Nani Samantha
Cinematography	K.K. Senthil Kumar
Edited by	Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Music by	M. M. Keeravani
Production companies	Suresh Productions Vaaraahi Chalana Chitram Makuta Graphics
Distributed by	14 Reels Entertainment
Release date	July 6, 2012 (2012-07-06)
Running time	134 minutes
Country	India
Languages	Telugu Tamil
Budget	₹26 crore (US$3.1 million)
Box office	₹125 crore (US$15 million)

Eega ([Fly] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) is a 2012 South Indian romantic fantasy-fictional film simultaniously shot in Telugu and Tamil (Naan Ee, [Me, the fly] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) languages. The film was written and directed by S S Rajamouli and stars Sudeep, Samantha and Nani in lead roles. M. M. Keeravani composed the film's music while K. K. Senthil Kumar and Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao helmed cinematography and editing respectively.

The Live Action Animation and Visual effects were supervised by Rahul Venugopal, Adel Adili and Pete Draper of Makuta effects. Telugu version Eega and Tamil version titled Naan Ee with dubbed Malayalam version titled Eecha were released on July 6, 2012 with over 1200 prints, and emerged as a blockbuster.

The film was screened to critical acclaim at L'Étrange Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival. The film was subsequently dubbed into Hindi as Makkhi. The Tamil version Naan Ee of this film was screened at the 10th Chennai International Film Festival. As of December 2012, the film has been reported to be dubbed in Thai. Eega has garnered the Best Feature Film in Telugu and the Best Special Effects, in the 60th National Film Awards 2012. The film has garnered "Sri B. Nagi Reddy Best Wholesome Entertainment Telugu Film Award" for the year 2012.

Plot

Nani is a young man who specialises in making fireworks. He lives in a house opposite micro artist Bindu, who also runs Project 511, an NGO. Nani is in in love with Bindu for two years and has been constantly showing his love for her. Bindu too loves Nani back but hides her love from him.

Sudeep is a multi-millionaire industrialist who is also a womaniser. He had even killed his wife for her money. One day, Bindu goes to Sudeep's office to see if he would like to donate money to her NGO. Sudeep sees Bindu and immediately lusts for her, and calls her into his office. Bindu, unaware of Sudeep's true intentions, tells him all about her NGO, he donates ₹15 lakh (US$18,000) to it. Bindu thanks Sudeep, who invites her for lunch.

At the restaurant, Bindu sees Nani and his friends installing fireworks across the pool. Sudeep notices that Bindu keeps staring at Nani and becomes jealous. Later, when Sudeep and Bindu stop at a market, Nani also comes and walks with Bindu. Sudeep follows them the whole time. That night, Bindu works late and she needs an escort to go home, so she calls Nani who comes to her office and walks her home. At this point, Nani gives Bindu an idea to help finish a necklace she was working on and Bindu is finally ready to confess her love towards Nani. But just in front of Bindu's doorstep, and just after Nani drops her, Sudeep kidnaps him and takes him to a graveyard, where he beats him mercilessly. He tells Nani that he loves Bindu. Nani tells Sudeep that if he goes anywhere near Bindu, he will kill him. Enraged, Sudeep strangles Nani, right after Bindu tells Nani she loves him through a text and a phone call. Upon hearing that Bindu loves him, Nani dies, but is then reborn as a fly.

After adapting to his new life, Nani comes across Sudeep, then recollects his past life and wants to take revenge on Sudeep. He keeps following Sudeep around, irritating him repeatedly. Meanwhile, Bindu is grieving the death of Nani, and Sudeep is still trying to make Bindu love him.

One day, Sudeep calls Bindu to her office and asks her to come to Delhi with him to meet the Education Minister, who is planning to nationally recognise Bindu's NGO, she agrees. Nani notices this and causes Sudeep to meet with an accident while he is driving to the airport. Sudeep, lying injured, sees Nani write the words "I will kill you". From that point, Sudeep becomes paranoid about the fly, and tries all means to ensure Nani does not enter his house.

File:Naan ee.png

The Fly protagonist

Later, Nani comes across Bindu, who is crying. Nani uses Bindu's tears on her desk to write out, "I am Nani". He then shows Bindu that it was Sudeep who killed him, and that he was reborn as a fly. Bindu realises Sudeep's true nature and teams up with Nani the fly, using her skills as a micro artist to make Sudeep's life miserable. Bindu discreetly allows Nani to enter Sudeep's house, and Nani wreaks havoc on him, including burning all of his wealth. A terrified Sudeep then consults Tantra, a sorcerer, who tells him that Nani, whom he had killed, was reborn as a fly and is planning to kill him. Tantra performs a 'homa' in Sudeep's house to kill Nani. But Nani escapes and causes a short circuit, leaving Tantra dead and Sudeep unconscious.

Next morning, Sudeep finds out that Bindu and Nani are working together to kill him. Enraged, Sudeep brings Bindu to his house and starts abusing her. He also clips Nani's wings and stabs it fatally. A dying Nani then sacrifices its life by jumping through a lighted matchstick, inflaming itself and entering a loaded cannon, which fires up and kills Sudeep.

Bindu, grieving the fly's death, makes a necklace using the only remainder of Nani the fly- its wing. While going to work, an eve-teaser abuses her, only for a fly to attack him. This fly is revealed to be Nani, again reborn to protect Bindu forever.

Cast

• Nani as Nani
• Samantha as Bindu
• Sudeep as Sudeep
• Hamsa Nandini as Kala (Special Appearance)
• Devadarshini as Bindu's Sister in Law
• Adithya as Sudeep's Friend
• Abhiram as Tantra
• Srinivasa Reddy as Sudeep's P.A.
• Thagubothu Ramesh as a Drunken Thief (Special Appearance)

Production

S. S. Rajamouli has stated that the idea of a story of a housefly taking revenge on a human first took shape in his head around 15 years ago, when his father mentioned that as a joke. Rajamouli's father had even given him the idea of a 'weakling' character driven by anger and vengeance, But Rajamouli was not interested in making the film at the time because he knew that computer graphics were not that developed and the movie would not be taken seriously. However, post 2010, the project was revived as a ₹400 million (US$4.8 million) budget venture

Rajamouli decided to shoot the film simultaneously in Telugu as Eega and in Tamil as Naan Ee (his first straight Tamil film) and it was originally conceptualised as a "small experimental film", right after Rajamouli had completed the Telugu films Magadheera and Maryada Ramanna. Rajamouli had almost decided to shelve the film, but when he later felt that the story had "universal appeal", he developed the film to its "present form". Nani and Samantha were selected for the lead roles, while Kannada actor Sudeep was chosen to portray a negative role. Reports suggesting that Kajal Aggarwal would perform an item number were denied by Rajamouli. James Floyd was originally announced as the cameraman but he was replaced by Rajamouli's norm cameraman K. K. Senthil Kumar.

The unit used a Scorpio Crane for the first time in the history of Telugu cinema. The climax portion was shot at Ramanaidu studios. Completion of first schedule led producer to arrange a party. A huge set was erected at the Saradhi Studios.

Release

The film was initially planned to be released in May 2012 but was delayed due to extensive CGI and VFX work. Release of the film was postponed again from June 22, 2012 to 6 July as the unit was reportedly striving hard for the quality of CG. The film was censored on June 26, 2012 and received an U/A rating by the Central Board of Film Certification for few smoking scenes which is considered integral to story. Telugu version with dubbed Tamil and Malayalam versions were released on July 6, 2012 with over 1200 prints. Distribution rights were sold for ₹ 34 crores. Eega was released in Hindi as "Makkhi" on October 12, 2012.

Critical reception

Telugu

Eega opened to highly positive reviews, Jeevi from idlebrain.com gave it 4 out of 5 and wrote: "Rajamouli has taken Telugu cinema to national level with his concept of Eega. In my opinion, Eega is the best film in Rajamouli’s career". Radhika Rajamani of Rediff rated it 4 out of 5 stating that Eega was "brilliant cinema". J Hurtado from Twitch Film described the film as the "best, most insane, most inventive film of the year".

Tamil

Naan Ee received mostly positive reviews. Behindwoods rated it 3.5/5, noting that it was "high on entertainment quotient". Moviebuzz of Sify called the film "excellent". Rohit Ramachandran of Nowrunning.com rated it 3.5/5 stating that Naan Ee was a "brilliant spoof of everything Kollywood stands for. A truly enjoyable fest". Vivek Ramz of in.com rated it 3.5/5 and claimed that the film was "full-on entertainment guaranteed" and that Rajamouli had "succeeded in converting his dream into a near perfect commercial flick". Indiaglitz said "Forget logics, enjoy grandeur and get immersed in fantasy. And Naan Ee will make you fly in joy". M. Suganth of The Times of India gave the film 4 out of 5 stars calling it a "bravura piece of commercial filmmaking that is an unqualified triumph in every aspect." Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu said, "Rajamouli’s story-telling technique is his strength. And when narration is effective, the rest falls in place. With no big stars to bolster the promo campaigns, Rajamouli’s track record (so far every film of his has been a hit) and the visual effects that the film promised perked up interest. And now the film lives up to the hype." Leading Tamil actor Rajinikanth praised Rajamouli for his fantastic work, while also commending Sudeep's performance as a villain, saying that he had thought he was the best villain until he saw Sudeep in Naan Ee.

Box office

The film has collected ₹17 Crores in its first day worldwide. Overall, the film has grossed about ₹115 crores worldwide as of July 27, 2012. This film had collected the total share of ₹57 crore (US$6.8 million) in both Telugu and Tamil versions as of August 8, 2012. The film has completed 50 days on August 24, 2012. The film has grossed more than ₹125 crores as of September 13, 2012. The film has completed 100 days on October 13, 2012.

Home media

On October 19, 2012 Aditya Videos Released the DVD Special Edition of the film with 2 discs in NTSC Format, One the film and the other the Making of the film with a Purchase price of $14.99. The normal DVD Version was released on October 22, 2012 by Aditya Videos in NTSC Format with a purchase price of $9.99. The Blu-ray disc of the film was released by Aditya Videos on October 29, 2012 in NTSC Format with a purchase price of $24.99.

Awards and nominations

Ceremony	Category	Nominee	Result
60th National Film Awards 2012	Best Feature Film Telugu	Eega	Won
	Best Special Effects	Makuta VFX	Won
B. Nagi Reddy Award 2012	Best Wholesome Entertainment Telugu Film Award	Eega	Won

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film was composed by M. M. Keeravani. The audio was released on March 30, 2012 at Brahama Kumari's Academy in Gachibowli, Hyderabad. It was released through Vel Records, owned by M. M. Keeravani. Lyrics for the two songs were penned by Ramajogayya Sastry and remaining songs were written by M. M.Keeravani, Anantha Sreeram, Chaitanya Prasad. The Tamil soundtrack of the film was composed by M. M. Keeravani as well. The audio launch event took place on April 1, 2012 at Sathyam Cinemas. Music was unveiled by Surya, Karthi along with directors N. Linguswamy and Bala.

Untitled

Telugu

Tracklist

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Sound of Vel"		Instrumental	0:29
2.	"Nene - Nani Ne"	M. M. Keeravani	Deepu, Sahiti	4:13
3.	"EeGa EeGa EeGa"	Ramajogayya Sastry	Deepu, Rahul Sipligunj, Sravana Bhargavi, Chaitra	4:47
4.	"Konchem Konchem"	Anantha Sreeram	Vijay Prakash	4:06
5.	"Lava Lava"	Chaitanya Prasad	Anuj Gurwara, Shivani	3:54
6.	"EeGa EeGa EeGa (Remix)"	Ramajogayya Sastry	Deepu, Rahul Sipligunj, Sravana Bhargavi, Chaitra	4:20
Total length:				21:49

Tamil

Untitled

Tracklist

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Veesum Velichathile"	Madhan Karky	Karthik, G. Sahithi
2.	"Eedaa Eedaa"	Madhan Karky	Ranjith
3.	"Konjam Konjam"	Madhan Karky	Vijay Prakash
4.	"Lava Lava"	Madhan Karky	Achu, Shivani
5.	"Eedaa Eedaa (Remix)"	Madhan Karky	Ranjith, Deepu, Rahul Sipligunj, Sravana Bhargavi, A. Chaitra

Reception

Behindwoods rated it 3/5, calling it "A nice compilation of numbers by Maragathamani" and said, "If the film delivers what is expected, then some of the songs will catch on in a big way, particularly the title song."

Sequel

After the overwhelming success of Eega, the makers of the film and team Rajamouli are reportedly considering the idea of making a sequel. Apparently, the idea came up during a recent meeting and a feasibility study is being conducted about the same. While the idea is still in a very early stage, both D.Suresh Babu and Sai Korrapati are said to be extremely pleased with the idea of a sequel.

Further reading

• SANGEETHA DEVI DUNDOO (July 14, 2012). "The art of small things". The Hindu. Retrieved 17 April 2013.

External links

• Official website
• Eega at IMDb