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Racha () is a 2012 Indian Telugu language-language masala film directed by Sampath Nandi and produced by Megaa Super Good Films. The film stars Ram Charan and Tamannaah Bhatia, alongside Ajmal Ameer, Mukesh Rishi, Dev Gill, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Nassar and Brahmanandam with R. Parthiban appearing in a cameo. The film marks the Telugu debuts of Tamil cinema actors Ajmal Ameer and R. Parthiban. The music was composed by Mani Sharma, while cinematography and editing were handled by Sameer Reddy and Gautham Raju respectively.
Principal photography commenced in June 2011 and was shot in various locations, mainly in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, apart from Sri Lanka and Bangkok. It was also shot in Anji County of China, which is the first in Telugu cinema.
Racha was released worldwide on 5 April 2012 to positive reviews from critics. The film received four nominations at the 60th Filmfare Awards South, where it won the award for best choreography. It also received five nominations at 2nd South Indian International Movie Awards.
Desperate for the money, Raj takes up the challenge and begins wooing Chaitra, who reciprocates his advances. Bellary learns about their relationship and sends his henchmen to kill the couple on the night of New Year's Eve. Raj and Chaitra dodge the henchmen and escape to Srisailam. Bellary, with the help of his corrupt minister-friend Baireddanna and Baireddanna's Dubai-based son, begins a search for them. At Srisailam, James rescues the couple from Bellary's henchmen, but gets stabbed by Baireddanna's son, who also kidnaps Chaitra. An injured James reveals that he was sent by his father to protect them and reveals about Raj's past.
Past: Raj's father Suryanarayana, a respected landlord in Rayadurgam, and his best friend Raghupathy, a business tycoon and Chaitra's biological father. Chaitra and Raj were childhood friends. Bellary, Raghupathy's brother-in-law, finds about the presence of iron ore under Raghupathy's land. Bellary, along with Baireddanna, decides to exploit the ore for their benefits. When Suryanarayana and Raghupathy objects, they and their families, except Raj and Chaitra, are killed by Bellary and Baireddanna. Chaitra is adopted by Bellary, who planned to kill her when she becomes an adult so that he could acquire Raghupathy's land.
Present: James reveals that his father, who is Bellary's PA, had revealed the past to Chaitra, who decided to avenge her father's death. Chaitra had learnt about Raj and his love for making bets from James, where she and James's father told him to trap Raj by placing the bet so that Bellary and Baireddanna can be destroyed using him. Learning this, Raj decides to avenge his father's death and kills Bellary, Baireddanna and his son at Rayadurga. Raj rescues Chaitra, who was badly injured by Bellary, and they distribute Raghupathy and Suryanarayana's land to the villagers.
After completing a schedule, Merupu was shelved and later, N. V. Prasad approved a script narrated by Sampath Nandi and announced in late February 2011. The film's official launch ceremony was conducted on 12 June 2011 at Ramanaidu Studios in Hyderabad where the film's working title was announced as Racha. Mani Sharma was signed to compose the film's music. Sameer Reddy was recruited as the film's cinematographer while Raju Sundaram and Shobi choreographed the songs along with Prem Rakshith. The film's Telugu logo was unveiled on 14 February 2012 and the title was confirmed as Racha, where the first two letters were taken from Ram and the other three letters were taken from Charan. The first look poster featuring Charan was unveiled on 18 February 2012.
R. Parthiban made a cameo appearance as Charan's father in the film, marking his Telugu debut who accepted it after Nandi explained the role's importance. Ajmal Ameer's inclusion in the film's cast was confirmed in late July 2011. He revealed later that every character in the film would be introduced through his character which would be a cameo, adding that it would be an impactful one bringing twists in the story. He could not dub for his role as he was shooting for a Tamil film in France. Brahmanandam and Krishna Bhagavaan were included in the film's cast in early October 2011. Dev Gill was signed to play one of the antagonists. He revealed that all his action sequences will be with Ram Charan only. Lisa Haydon performed an item number in the film.
Some scenes were shot in a set erected near the Aluminium Factory at Gachibowli. Tamannaah and Brahmanandam participated in the film's shoot at Hyderabad till 6 October 2011 after which the makers planned to shoot the film in China. After much shooting in Hyderabad, filming continued at Goa. During the shoot of Charan's introduction scene, Wire fu failed and Charan, who was sitting in a car on the railway track, jumped from the car and was injured. After the schedule's completion, Charan visited Sabarimala Temple to end his Ayyappan Diksha.
The song "Vaana Vaana Velluvaye" was shot with Charan and Tamannaah in early November 2011. A special set in Annapurna Studios was erected where the song was shot for four days after which the film's China schedule commenced from 12 November 2011. A song and a fight sequence was shot at a Bamboo forest in Anji County of Zhejiang province till the end of November 2011. Racha became the first Telugu film to be shot in the dense forest of interior China. On its completion, Charan took a break for ten days. The film's shoot resumed at Rayalacheruvu near Tirupati in December 2011. After a brief shoot at Ramoji Film City, the last schedule began in Chennai on 17 January 2012. The shooting of the title song choreographed by Prem Rakshith was wrapped up at Buddha Statue of Hyderabad on 23 January 2012.
The film's shoot continued at Periyar National Park of Kerala in February 2012. Charan and Tamannaah were filming for a song sequence on a boat when the park's deputy director Sanjay Kumar insisted that the duo should use life jackets as they were entering a risky spot. After few disagreements, the film's shoot was temporarily halted and some long shots were shot when the duo used the jackets. The forest officials also restricted the entry of about 20 vehicles and 100 members into the park due to which the shoot was limited to a small portion of a song.
After spraining his leg during the song shoot at Annapurna Studios, Charan was advised to take a bed rest for three to four weeks. He rejoined the shoot on 25 March 2012 to complete the remaining two songs. After completing the shoot for the song "Dillaku Dillaku" at Annapurna Studios in Hyderabad, the last song "Singarenundi" was shot at Anaimalai Hills and Siruvani Waterfalls near Pollachi on Charan and Tamannaah. On its completion, the film's team returned to Hyderabad and the principal photography came to an end on 1 April 2012.
After Competition Commission of India imposed a fine on Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce for restricting free trade, Racha released in Karnataka in more than 120 screens. Ragalai was released on 6 April 2012. The Malayalam dubbed version Raksha released on 13 April 2012 though it was planned for a simultaneous release with Ragalai. Racha satellite rights were sold to Gemini TV. The Indian and overseas DVDs and Blu-rays of the Telugu version were marketed by Aditya Videos.
Racha was dubbed into Tamil language as Ragalai and into Malayalam as Raksha. The former was released on 6 April 2012 while the latter was released a week later. The film was dubbed into Hindi as Betting Raja and it was remade in Bangladesh as Honeymoon starring Bappy Chowdhury and Mahiya Mahi.
In four weeks, Racha grossed at the global box office including the collections of the dubbed versions with a distributor share of at the AP/Nizam box office. The film completed a 50-day run in 127 direct centres across the AP/Nizam region out of which 38 screens were from Ceded Districts and 16 screens were from Nizam region. By then, the film was declared a blockbuster. The film completed a 100-day run in 38 centres across Andhra Pradesh on 13 July 2012. Rachas final share for its distributors was
Karthik Pasupulate of The Times of India gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and felt that the film is designed for the "hardcore Mega Fans and it makes no bones about it". He added "Clearly there are a lot of prospective hooting opportunities for the die hard Ram Charan fans. As for the other kind of audience, well, you'll have to ask them. We suspect they might just be feeling a little unattended". Praising the screenplay written by Sampath Nandi, Ramchander of Oneindia stated "Finally, Sampath Nandi has come out with a good film. Though, the story is not that great and is quite predictable one, the ability of the director made it quite interesting."
Rating the film 2.5 out of 5 stars, CNN-IBN felt that the film was technically brilliant but lacked a credible storyline. They termed the film's presentation as a "lacklustre and ordinary" one. Radhika Rajamani of Rediff.com gave 2 out of 5 stars and criticised the film for its predictability and stereotypical pattern and stated that Racha is a potboiler meant for the masses and not for a discerning audience. Praising the lead pair's performances by calling them as one of the reasons to watch this film, IndiaGlitz opined that at the end, Racha means "telling an old story with lot's sic of bells and whistles — over the top dialogues, destructive fights, falling back on the poor, etc."
| 60th Filmfare Awards South | Best Film | R. B. Choudary | ||
| Best Actor | Ram Charan | |||
| Best Actress | Tamannaah Bhatia | |||
| Best Choreography | Jani Master for "Dillaku Dillaku" | |||
| 2nd South Indian International Movie Awards | Best Actor | Ram Charan | ||
| Best Actress | Tamannaah Bhatia | |||
| Best Music Director | Mani Sharma | |||
| Best Male Playback Singer | Hemachandra for "Oka Paadam" | |||
| Best Dance Choreographer | Shobi for "Vaana Vaana" | |||
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