Dammu was released theatrically on 27 April 2012 and received mixed to negative reviews from critics who praised cast performance and action sequences, but criticized its screenwriting and excessive violence. Despite being an average grosser at the box office, it was unofficially remade in Bengali (Bangladesh) as Rajababu - The Power starring Shakib Khan, Apu Biswas and Bobby. The film was dubbed into Tamil titled Singamagan.
Plot
Rama Chandra is an orphan who leads a simple life along with his friend. He falls in love with Sathya, who is a rich girl. Sathya imposes a condition that Rama Chandra's family history should be important. At this very moment, Rama Chandra learns that a rich and powerful royal Suryavamsi family seeks to adopt an heir, where he seizes the chance. Rama Chandra goes there and realizes that Suryavamsi family has a violent past and a bitter dispute with another rich and powerful royal Chandravamsi family headed by a Chandravamsi King and also realizes that thousands of people in the area are now dependent on him for their very survival. Rama Chandra also discovers that he is actually the real heir to the family. Despite his hatred towards violence, Rama Chandra tries his best to solve the problems peacefully, but the rival gang does not give him a chance. Vexed with the violence, Rama Chandra nearly kills the Chandravamsi King's eldest son and kills King's youngest son, where he opens the Chandravamsi King's eyes by placing a sword on his middle son. Chandravamsi King realizes that his mistakes and apologizes to Rama Chandra and the family, thus ending the violent nature of the village.
Cast
Jr. NTR as Rama Chandra / Raja Vasireddy Vijayadwaja Srisimha
Dammu has music scored by M. M. Keeravani.[5]Shruti Hassan, who was originally signed to play the female lead, walked out citing date issues.[6] Later the producers approached Kajal Aggarwal who also couldn't accommodate bulk dates for the film.[7] The producers finalised Trisha as the first female lead.[8] According to reports, Bhanupriya, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Venu Thottempudi and Subhalekha Sudhakar play supporting roles.[9]
Release
The Telugu and Tamil versions released on 27 April 2012. Dammu released on approximately 2550 screens worldwide which was a record in Tollywood.[10] It released in approx of 140+ theatres in Karnataka which is considered to be a record by out of state movie.[11]
Critical reception
B.V.S. Prakash of Deccan Chronicle wrote "Dammu (Valour), as one of the Telugu films that made high on action and low on contents".[12]Sify wrote "Boyapati uses the same formula of Tollywood action movies with good dialogues, high voltage fight sequences and wraps ups with interesting twist and NTR's charged up performance".[13]
Mahesh K. S. of 123Telugu gave 3.25 out of 5 stars and wrote "‘Dhammu’ will work well with fans and mass movie lovers. We have seen a highly charged performance from Tarak after a long time and he carries the film completely on his shoulders. Good action sequences, dialogues and sentiment will work well at the Box office. On the flip side, tempo goes down a bit in the second half and care should have been taken here."[14] Radhika Rajamani of Rediff gave 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Director Boyapati Seenu's new film Dammu has an outdated and clichéd storyline, regressive content, and mindless and excessive violence".[15]
Box office
The film completed 50 days in 70 direct centres on 15 June 2012 and it managed to sustain for a long run as expected turns Above Average to HIT at Boxoffice.[16] and collected a share of 35 crores worldwide.[17] The film completed 100 days on 4 August 2012.[18]
Pre-release revenues
After selling distribution and satellite rights, the film earned pre-release revenue up to ₹45 crore (US$5.6 million).[19]
Home media
The satellite and digital rights were sold to Zee Telugu and ZEE5 for ₹6.6 crore (US$830,000), the highest buy-over for any film in 2012.[20] The VCDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs of the film were released through Bhavani Company into the market on 10 August 2012, six days after completing 100 days in theatres.[21]
